A Looped Story
by lin4t
Summary: When Naruto woke up on graduation day, he didn't expect things to do wrong. He especially did not expect Mizuki was a traitor and even more so that Iruka would die and did die for him. But when that happened, why did he wake up back on graduation day? What was happening? What was going on? All Naruto knew was...he was stuck in some Time Loop.
1. Prologue - Beginning of Everything

**Prologue: Beginning of Everything**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto  
**

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A certain Uzumaki Naruto woke up screaming from a nightmare. At least he thought it was a nightmare. There was something frightening that could scare even him but for the life of him, he couldn't remember.

He remembered fear and being afraid beyond anything else. It was more frightening than when that mob managed to corner him and start beating him to death. At that time, the ANBU and surprising the Hokage himself appeared to aid him.

He was seven years old that time and was kicked out of the orphanage and lived on the street for 2 years.

It sadden him that even among the homeless, they treated him rather badly even if he was a child though some of them pitied him and gave him some food, water and shelter for him to survive.

Didn't stop them from being dicks though.

"What time is it?" he wondered trying to find his alarm clock.

Looking at the time, it was nearly 9 and he was late to the Academy!

Not to mention it was the day for the graduation tests that would ensure that he would become a ninja! He already failed 2 times in a row and one more meant he could never become a ninja ever again.

"Shit."

Cursing, Naruto stripped himself and was soon clothed in his orange jacksuit and sprinting out the door forgetting to lock it. He did not realise that he didn't eat breakfast as well. Fortunately he arrived at the Academy in time, to be precise an hour early.

"Where is everyone?!" he nearly shouted before looking at the time more carefully this time.

'Damn! I got here too early and there is barely anyone here!' he cursed in his mind.

Now he had to wait and do nothing. Doing nothing meant no pranking. No pranking meant he was bored. However he had to since pranking meant being kicked out before he even had a chance to be a ninja!

And so, Naruto spent the next hour catching up on some sleep when Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei appeared. He liked Iruka-sensei since he was the one who treated him the best other than Hokage-jiji, Teuchi-jiji and Ayame-nee.

Iruka was the one who was tanned with a straight line scar across his face in the middle of his nose. He wore his hair making it spike at the back of his head. Mizuki had paler skin with long silver-blue hair which extended to the side to his shoulders.

"Right, today we will be testing you to become Genin" said Iruka. Mizuki continued, "The tests will be split into three parts. The first being a written test-"

Naruto groaned along with a few others much to the amusement of many and the smug of some like Sasuke. He thought he heard both Iruka and Mizuki chuckle at this.

"The second part will be an accuracy test with weapons and the last will test your ninjutsu."

With that, the class got into their seats and waited as both teachers passed papers to each student and a pencil to write with. Naruto really wasn't going to enjoy this at all. Why did Ninjas need to pass written tests?!

Weren't they about using Jutsu and fighting and stuff?

"Time's up! Stop writing, the written exams are over!" Iruka called out stopping a many deal of people from writing anymore.

Not that he wrote much, he swore that some of the questions even Iruka would have a hard time solving.

A few hours later, Naruto nearly slept through the written exam not knowing most of what was on it, made just average on his accuracy test which to him was a good thing and deserved some merit there and was now at his ninjutsu test.

"Naruto, please make three clones" Iruka ordered with a clip-board at hand behind a desk with Mizuki.

Another groan came out of his mouth seeing that of all jutsu they could pick, it had to be the one that he couldn't do properly. He never managed to make a proper clone and everything else came out half dead.

'However I cannot fail! If I don't I can't become a ninja and then Hokage!' he thought with determination. Pouring as much power into his jutsu, Naruto closed his eyes and cried, "Clone Jutsu!"

Poof Poof.

Opening his eyes he saw two half dead clones on the ground lifeless. Frightened, Naruto looked at Iruka for something that would allow him to pass but all he saw was disappointment. Looking at Mizuki, Naruto saw something and it seemed like hope.

"Iruka, Naruto still made two clones even if they are not functional. Can't we pass him?" Mizuki asked.

'Yes, yes! Please listen to him Iruka-sensei!' he thought praying with all his heart.

Pinching his nose hinge Iruka said, "Mizuki, everyone else in the class made at least three clones that were fully functional. With this in mind I cannot pass him."

Naruto felt all hope disappear as Iruka looked at him with a steady gaze.

"Naruto you…FAIL!"

* * *

Sneaking into the Hokage Tower was easy. So much for the famed security of the ANBU, not to mention how many times Naruto managed to prank them now. It was funny to see them run in all kinds of colours trying to capture him that one time.

"Right…now where is that scroll Mizuki-sensei told me about?" Naruto mused in the office of the Hokage. A few minutes later, a large scroll that was taller than him was strapped onto his back. Now he had the Scroll of Sealing.

"Naruto what are you doing here?" a voice asked which in hindsight was very familiar to him. It was the voice of an old man that Naruto was very familiar with to the point that he thought of the man as a grandfather.

Naruto turned around frightened to see Hokage-jiji staring at him. Damn! At this rate he would fail the make-up test from Mizuki! He had no choice!

"Sexy Jutsu!"

Poof!

Naruto transformed into a naked busty blonde with hair in pig tails to the side and with whiskers like his on her cheek while kissing his hand at the old man and winking at the same time. Now Naruto just needed to wait for the effects of his jutsu to take place.

1…2…3.

"Puurrrrraaaaaa!"

A stream of blood shot out of Hokage-jiji's nose as he was sent flying back. Naruto snickered at this sight knowing that Hokage-jiji was a pervert.

"Sexy Jutsu success!" he exclaimed seeing the pool of blood from the old man's nose get larger and larger.

With Hokage-jiji out for the count, Naruto leaped from the window of the Hokage Office and into the shadows determined to learn a jutsu from the scroll and show it to Mizuki to pass the test and become a genin!

* * *

"Let's see what the first Jutsu is…" Naruto unscrolled part of the Scroll of Sealing and looked at the first jutsu that was there.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu' he read in his mind before screaming, 'Why does the first jutsu have to be the worst thing that I can do?!'

However Naruto looked at the next jutsu and couldn't understand it at all and went to the next one and the one after that.

'I don't understand what these complicated words mean!' he shouted in his mind again.

Moving back to the first jutsu more determined than ever he started reading as much as he could understand. This was his only chance of passing the test here! He was going to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu no matter what!

"First I have to make a cross with my fingers like this…."

Naruto read what he could tell from the scroll and then looked at the pictures to see how to perform the jutsu. It should be similar enough to the Clone Jutsu that he could do this right? Hours later Naruto was exhausted but with a grin on his face.

He finished learning the Jutsu.

He was going to pass the test.

He was going to be a Ninja.

And eventually Hokage!

"Hehehehe."

He scrolled up the scroll now that he was finished learning that Jutsu and was about to leave to find Mizuki who seemed to be late or something when Iruka appeared! Great! He could tell him that he passed the make-up test and could become a genin.

"Hehehehe, you caught me" said Naruto with a sleepish grin still on his face.

"NARUTO! What are you doing?!" Iruka demanded in a serious tone.

He never saw him with such a serious look on his face before. Must be because he didn't expect him to do the make-up test. Yep, no one including Mizuki must have not told him of the test.

"Ne, ne. I learnt a jutsu from this scroll and now I can become a genin right? I passed the make-up test right?" asked Naruto in an excited tone with his arms waving around.

He was expecting a look of surprise and pride to appear but it never did.

Iruka looked confused for some reason and asked, "Who told you this?"

Naruto figured that he wasn't told of the make-up test and that was the reason why he looked confused and said, "Mizuki-sensei!"

"Wa-" Iruka suddenly pushed him aside and in shock, Naruto saw him being pinned down by a rain of Kunai and then promptly finished by a giant Shuriken without warning. Neither Naruto or Iruka even saw who was the one who attacked them.

He saw the bleeding body of Iruka. The limp lifeless body whose eyes were now dull.

Something broke inside of him, something precious to him was broken but Naruto couldn't understand. It hurt, it hurt too much to see Iruka like this and Red Chakra surrounded his body rapidly gaining mass and power.

"IRUKA-SENSEI!" Naruto screamed as everything went black.

* * *

 _Loop 1 End_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Okay while this is technically the second work (And first full series) that I'll post on this site, I actually started this _months_ ago while I was still stuck in Uni for the rest of the semester meaning there's a lot for me to edit and proofread before I wanted to post it on this site.

Fun fact: This is actually the first Naruto Fanfiction work that I did.

* * *

So it comes to my attention that aimlessly clicking accept on the guidelines isn't exactly the best idea...

Because of that, the Prologue disappears into my Profile page which will actually be used now.


	2. Chapter 1 - The Loop and Graduation

**Chapter 1: The Loop and Graduation**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto woke up from his bed. However unlike before, he clearly saw that Iruka was killed in front of him by someone. It was so realistic that it was as if Iruka died in front of him just then.

'It was all a dream right?'

He remembered failing the graduation tests and Mizuki telling him of a make-up test. He then snuck into the Hokage tower and stole the Scroll of Sealing and then escaped into the forest to learn a jutsu which he did.

'Shadow Clone Jutsu…was it all real?'

Making a cross sign with his fingers on both hands he poured Chakra into the jutsu and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Poof.

A single clone stood next to him when he did. In a hurry, Naruto touched the clone and quickly realised that it was real and solid. That meant the dream wasn't a dream and he paled.

'Iruka-sensei! What happened to him afterwards?'

Naruto ran out of his apartment to search for him ignoring the glares that he got from the villagers. Where would Iruka be? The hospital? Maybe but the people there didn't like him and he doubt he would find anything out like that. In that case, the Academy? People there didn't like him as well.

'In that case, I need to see Hokage-jiji! He knows everything in this village'

With that thought, Naruto charged into the office of the Hokage and shouted, "What happened to Iruka-sensei?!"

There was a pregnant silence between the people in the room as he saw Iruka standing there. Not full of holes and bleeding out in front of him and dying from his wounds from an unknown perpetrator.

"Naruto?" Iruka had a quizzed look on his face while Mizuki had a neutral look. Hokage-jiji seemed amused at what Naruto said before Iruka's face turned dark and he hit Naruto on the head shouting, "What are you barging in for idiot?!"

Naruto rubbed his sore head before becoming confused that Iruka was here and fine. That was before Iruka asked, "Why are you still here Naruto. The graduation tests are happening in an hour, hurry up to the Academy."

Naruto remembered the graduation tests and failing. Thus he became even more confused but he knew he shouldn't say anything. That was his instincts at the moment and he frowned.

'What's going on, graduation exams were yesterday? Am I in some sort of Genjutsu?' he thought before thinking about it while leaping to the Academy. Things went as they were before to the point that Naruto was freaked out by it. Every last word everyone said was exactly the same. Every test was the same as well to the point that he failed using the Clone Jutsu again with Mizuki trying to persuade Iruka to pass him and Iruka failing him.

It was so surreal that he ignored Mizuki telling of the make-up test and a few hours later, everything went black before he fell asleep.

* * *

Waking up for a third time feeling strange, Naruto remembered everything and this time he checked the calendar.

"Today is the day of the graduation test….again" he mused.

Living through the tests three times made everything predictable. Trying to figure out how he got back here for a third time, he remembered Mizuki telling him of the make-up test but never going for it like the first time.

'It looks like I have to do it else I have to repeat this again' he thought this time eating breakfast, putting on his orange jumpsuit before heading to the Academy, this time not super early. Putting on the motions, Naruto's excitement and emotions were quite dull for the tests.

He knew he failed the written test since he couldn't even tell what was written on there for most of it, plus the fact he couldn't care about it. He got average on his accuracy test and failed the ninjutsu test where he still couldn't do the Clone Jutsu. Never mind that he could now use the Shadow Clone Jutsu which was way better than the stupid Clone Jutsu.

Then Mizuki appeared and told him of the make-up test though he didn't give the whole speech on why he shouldn't blame Iruka this time.

'Must be because he wanted to encourage him on the make-up test those times that led him to that' Naruto thought.

Soon enough, Naruto was able to repeat the act of stealing the Scroll of Sealing taking out Hokage-jiji with his original jutsu! He still giggled a that sight of the Hokage-jiji falling like that. A little bit later in the hours, Naruto was nervous again. This was where Iruka died the first time. He didn't want Iruka to die.

However he needed to act his part.

"Hehehehe, you caught me" said Naruto with a sleepish grin still on his face. However this was all an act this time.

"NARUTO! What are you doing?!" demanded Iruka in a serious tone. Now that he thought about it, something was strange about this make-up test. Iruka should have known about it, right?

"Ne, ne. I learnt a jutsu from this scroll and now I can become a genin right? I passed the make-up test right?" asked Naruto in an excited tone. Soon…he had to protect Iruka.

Iruka looked confused for reasons Naruto now also shared and asked, "Who told you this?"

Naruto figured that he wasn't told of the make-up test and said, "Mizuki-sensei!"

Irukaand Naruto both sensed something and at the same time Iruka pushed him away to which he was still pinned to the wall. Naruto watched in horror as that same giant Shuriken flew to kill Iruka…but didn't.

Iruka barely caught the Shuriken with his hands and then shouted, "Show yourself!" looking everywhere at once to find the enemy.

And so he did, with another giant Shuriken on his face, Mizuki appeared.

"Waaa?"

Both Naruto and Iruka were shocked seeing Mizuki. Iruka figured it out first while Naruto did a second later.

Mizuki used Naruto to steal the Scroll of Sealing. It wouldn't have made sense the first time round but after looking things through, Naruto knew that there was no way that a mere make-up test would involve stealing one of the most well-guarded item in the village.

Mizuki was a traitor using Naruto.

But all of this couldn't stop Naruto from being shocked stuttering, "Mi-Mizuki-sensei?" out while Mizuki laughed out evilly. The change of expression from what Naruto and the rest of the class knew and what he saw now was so different.

"Mizuki why?!" Iruka shouted at Mizuki who continued to laugh.

Looking down at Naruto and Iruka who was injured, Mizuki explained, "Simple. I want the Scroll of Sealing which has forbidden jutsus in it to become stronger. This village has stunted my growth no more!"

Naruto saw that Mizuki's eyes were hard and cold….like the rest of the village towards him when they looked at him.

"And how else can I do that besides using the Demon Brat as my tool? Konoha will rejoice in me slaying you" Mizuki sneered as Naruto looked confused. Mizuki thankfully added the question, "Do you know why the villagers treat you so bad? Why they scorn and hate your very existence?"

Naruto's ears despite the situation perked up. It was one of the things that he wanted to know so bad. Hokage-jiji didn't tell him no matter how much he asked and everyone else just averted the question.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

Noticing where the conversation was heading Iruka shouted, "Stop! That's forbidden!"

Mizuki sneered for a second time before shouting, "Because you are the Kyuubi that attacked this village 13 years ago! You are the Demon that took away the Yondaime Hokage and countless others on that night! That is why you are hated. It is because you are the Kyuubi in human form!"

Shock.

That was the first thing Naruto felt when he heard that. Now he knew of why the villagers hated things, it all made sense. Why people glared at him when he passed. Why stores kicked him out when he entered. Why he was overcharged on the ones he could enter.

Then he felt Fear.

Now that he stole the scroll, what was keeping them from hunting him down? On his birthday, there were mobs once or twice that were drunk trying to attack him. Most of the time they didn't do anything but it was only on his birthday, the day the Kyuubi attacked that mobs ever occurred. It wasn't like they actively attacked him. They had no reason to.

But now….

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Naruto ran for life fearing for the worst. He had no allies here, only enemies.

* * *

Naruto was crying. Iruka knew and he accepted him nonetheless. He at least had one person that cared for him and trusted him. And that meant more than everything to Naruto. However Mizuki was trying to kill Iruka

That could not be allowed.

As Mizuki went to kill Iruka with his remaining giant Shuriken, Naruto leaped into the way and kicked it and Mizuki away from Iruka planting the Scroll of Sealing vertically on the ground next to him.

"Don't you dare hurt Iruka-sensei!" Naruto growled.

Mizuki sneered at Naruto mocking him while saying, "And what can you do Demon Brat?"

With a smirk, Naruto called on as much Chakra as possible to power this one jutsu he managed to learn those loops ago and never used more than that one time once.

"Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted as the forest around them exploded into smoke as a hundred Narutos appeared from everywhere facing Mizuki. Now he was the one in shock as Naruto mocked him now, "So what did you say?"

"Im-Impossible!" Mizuki screamed as all thousand Narutos charged at the teme at once.

Minutes later, there was a Mizuki on the ground beaten up to the point that he barely resembled a person. Naruto grinned at his work and faced Iruka worryingly. What was he going to say?

"Naruto" Iruka said gently, "Close your eyes."

Naruto nodded and did that. Just moments later, he felt something being tied to his forehead and opening it, the forehead protector that Iruka wore was now on him. Naruto was more than surprised at this as Iruka said:

"Congratulations on graduating Naruto."

More tears appeared as Naruto hugged Iruka as much as he could for doing this.

* * *

 _Loop 3 End. Checkpoint Gained. (Total time spent: 3 Days)_


	3. Chapter 2 - Team Selection Failures

**Chapter 2: Team Selection Failures**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

A week passed by and Naruto experienced a couple of things.

First was the grandson of Hokage-jiji named Konohamaru who pestered him to the point that he taught him the Sexy Jutsu. The closest pervert teacher of his was knocked out by his new Harem Jutsu by the end of the day.

Naruto sniggered thinking of what would Hokage-jiji do when Konohamaru used the Sexy Jutsu on him. That would be a laugh since Hokage-jiji would be 'defeated.'

The rest of the week went by with Naruto alternating with training and pranking; mostly pranking.

As a ninja now, he would not need to prank anyone else for a long time to acknowledge him. Scenes of saving a princess from a burning castle played in his mind as he thought of this. Plus it gave the ANBU one last work out as well.

Now it was time for team selection where according to Iruka, they would be sorted into teams of three with a Jonin as the leader. He hoped that he would be placed in the same team as Sakura and not with Sasuke. That was all he asked.

However there was the deal with these time loops. He had no idea what was going on here with them and whether or not they would continue. But right now, Naruto could only grin as he entered the classroom with his headband on his forehead.

The first person to notice him was Shikamaru who asked, "Naruto why are you here? Only those who graduate are supposed to be here."

Naruto simply pointed at his forehead and said, "This is proof enough. I got through the make-up test."

It wasn't entirely true but he learnt a B-rank Kinjutsu in a matter of hours and used it to be defeat a Traitor was enough for the Hokage to promote him into a Genin. With that done, he sat down next to the teme since there was nowhere else to sit while he and the rest of the class waited for Iruka.

BANG!

The door was slammed open to show that Sakura and Ino were rushing into the room. With a look, both set their gaze onto the place Naruto was.

With some hope Naruto waved and said, "Hey Sakura-ch-"

"Get out of the way Naruto-baka!" Sakura shrieked while pushing him aside while Ino caught up a split second later fuming that she was too late to sit next to her Sasuke-kun.

After a minute of fighting between the two with Naruto in between and Sasuke not paying attention, Sakura was in the middle of the table with Naruto and Sasuke to each side while Ino was seated on the table above.

With everyone in class here, the chatter started once again as Naruto thought of how the teme gets all the girls. Every last girl in the class was a fan-girl of the teme (forgetting Hinata) which wasn't fair at all. What did the teme do to deserve all of that?

With a frown, Naruto squatted in front of Sasuke on the table staring at him. The teme dismissed him saying, "What the hell do you want dobe?"

"TEME!" Naruto shouted back in anger.

It was then that someone in front of the table where Naruto was squatting said, "Oh, a fight is going to break out?" while turning and inadvertedly knocking Naruto forward…into Sasuke.

Kiss~

Horror and disgust went through Naruto as his lips went on Sasuke's.

Choking, Naruto spat out whatever disease went in through his mouth and gagged…only not to notice the killing intent coming from the rest of the girls in the class looking to kill him.

It was only too late when the surrounded him as Sakura said while cracking her knuckles, "Naruto…die."

* * *

Beaten up beyond anything else he had felt, Naruto lifelessly lumped his head onto his desk as Iruka called out to the class.

"Okay, now that you have all graduated, you are now all Genin of Konoha. Be proud of this and may the Will of Fire burn brightly in all of you" he concluded after an hour speech on what was expected from them all as Shinobi of this village.

It was then that he called out, "Team 7, Uzumaki Naruto-"

Naruto perked up.

"Haruna Sakura."

Naruto cheered while Sakura groaned.

"And Uchiha Sasuke."

Now Sakura cheered with Naruto groaning while Sasuke had no reaction at all to this. Naruto thought of what just happened. Sure he had Sakura in his team but there was also the teme which Sakura liked! Now he couldn't get her affections at all with her on his team!

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted interrupting what he was going to say next, "Why does an awesome ninja like me have to team up with that teme?!" he pointed at the teme while saying this.

Surely Iruka knew how awesome he was.

"Naruto" Iruka sighed for some reason and said, "Sasuke had the highest score in his year like Sakura. You on the other hand are dead last."

The words 'dead last' echoed in his head.

"It's only right for the teams to be balanced" he concluded as he sorted the rest of the class into teams. The next team, team 8 had Kiba known as Dog Breath, Shino known as Insect Guy and Hinata, Weird Girl while team 10 had Shikimaru otherwise known as Lazy Bastard, Choji known as Big Boned and Ino, Sasuke Fangirl #2.

He would have liked to have any of those guys with the exception of Ino instead of the Teme.

* * *

3 hours later, Naruto shouted, "He's late!"

After the team selection, Naruto felt the reason why you don't drink spoiled milk. He had to be on the toilet for an hour before he finished. He made a mental note to NOT drink that milk if he ever had to repeat again.

"Shut up Naruto-baka" Sakura shouted.

However Naruto pointed at the clock which showed that it was pass the noon now and everyone else was gone. Today the Academy was only used for team selection today.

"But Sakura-chan" he whined, "Everyone else is gone already. Even Iruka-sensei left!"

Sakura had no comment to that as Naruto's mind played forward quickly. Even though he swore that he wouldn't prank anyone anymore, this was cause for breaking that rule once. Looking at the board he found an eraser and smirked.

"Naruto, what are you doing?" asked Sakura as he was on a seat opening a small space on the sliding door while placing the eraser at the gap which tightly fitted it.

"If he's going to be late, he's going to be pranked" he said as a matter of what.

"Naruto-baka! You shouldn't do that!" Sakura shrieked again.

"Hn. Our teacher is a Jonin, Elite of the Village. A trap like that will never work" Sasuke stated to which Sakura immediately swooned to his side immediately.

A few seconds later, this theory was tested as the sliding door was opened and a man with strange silver hair spiked up like a scarecrow appeared pocking his head into the class.

And the eraser dropped with all three of them watching to see what would this Jonin, this Elite of the village would do. This mere eraser which-

Whack!

Hit him squarely on the head without a reaction from the Jonin. Looking at the men more closely, he was wearing a mask that covered most of his face and further was wearing his headband over his left eye which covered even more of his face.

The sensei spoke at that moment saying, "My first impression of you all…I hate you."

Pointing upwards, "Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes."

And with that, the man disappeared.

* * *

"This test has a pass rate of 33% meaning of the 27 of you new Genin, only 9 of you will pass and the rest will be sent back to the Academy!" Kakashi stated.

"WHHHHHAAAAATTTT?!" Naruto and Sakura shouted while Sasuke for once was wide eyed.

"By the way, don't eat for tomorrow, you'll juts vomit it all out in the end."

And so, Kakashi-sensei disappeared with that.

* * *

Naruto was tied to the log with Sakura and Sasuke to the side of him. Kakashi looking down on them.

"Naruto you are incomponent as a Ninja. While you have one powerful jutsu which mind you is the ONLY jutsu you used, you are lacking in all other areas as a Ninja. Whether in Taijutsu which you have no skill in or tactical awareness, you are barely better than a civilian as a brawler. You ignored everyone else and charged in head on without regard to anything" he said in a cold tone to him.

Turning to Sakura he next stated, "Sakura, you are no better than Naruto, hell you are worse than him. Your best skill seemed to originate with Genjutsu yet you have fainted with the most basic ones. While you saw Naruto, you completely ignored him to find Sasuke. You have no Ninjutsu besides the basic three and your Taijutsu is worse than Naruto's."

Finally he turned to Sasuke and stated, "Sasuke you are far the worse among you three. Yes, you are stronger than the two but like Sakura, you ignored Naruto and Sakura statement that they are below you. You have no concept of anything but power and are a danger to everyone at this rate."

Kakashi looked at everyone with his cold lone eye and said, "The purpose of this test is teamwork. Even without getting a bell, if all of you managed to work together no matter how small it was, I would've passed you."

Naruto along with Sakura and Sasuke looked away in shame. It was a basic concept and yet none of them did anything to achieve that.

"Because of this, you all….FAIL!"

And then, everything went black for Naruto again.

* * *

Naruto woke up and checked the date.

It was a week till the team selection but now he knew that he was going to be in a team with Sakura and Sasuke.

On one hand he was thankful for having Sakura on his team but on the other hand, he had to endure the Teme. Plus they had to pass that extra test Kakashi had.

 _'Naruto you are imcomponent as a Ninja. While you have one powerful jutsu which mind you is the ONLY jutsu you used, you are lacking in all other areas as a Ninja. Whether in Taijutsu which you have no skill in or tactical awareness, you are barely better than a civilian as a brawler. You ignored everyone else and charged in head on without regard to anything'_

Kakashi's words stung truer than anything else. He had ONE powerful jutsu and he acted as if he had everything in game.

A thousand nothing is still nothing.

In all three areas, Taijutsu which Naruto now knew he sucked at, Genjutsu which he never got right or even Ninjutsu where he still couldn't pull off a Clone Jutsu, Naruto needed help. And he had an infinite week in a loop to achieve enough strength to be a true Genin.

And who else could help him besides Iruka.

Naruto was pretty sure Iruka was at the Academy right now with nothing to do. Surely he could help him with his problem.

He didn't want to go back to the Academy after failing though somewhere inside Naruto thought that this loop thing prevented him from either way.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 2: Loop 1 End (Total Loops: 4)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well this chapter pretty much follows Canon expect in the end where Team 7 doesn't pass. I really call BS in how they pass in Canon since none of them were actually ready to be a Ninja and look what happened.

Sasuke left Konoha branded as a traitor due to his power inferiority complex, Naruto almost died trying to retrieve him still being naive that he could be saved and failing and it was only then that Sakura actually got serious in being a Ninja, MONTHS after she was actually one.

I'll post the next chapter in a few hours and that's when things finally start to pick up.


	4. Chapter 3 - Learning to be a Ninja

**Chapter 3: Learning to be a Ninja**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto approached the Academy and quickly found Iruka grading something.

Nothing important then was the first thing Naruto thought before barging into the empty classroom. However Naruto noticed some bandages which caused him lots of guilt of what happened the previous day.

"Heeey! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto shouted to which startled him.

"Naruto?" asked Iruka with a confused look, "Why are you here?"

"I need help to become a better ninja" Naruto stated bluntly.

To say Iruka was shocked was an understatement.

He had half expected for Naruto to plead for him to teach him some awesome powerful jutsu for something along those lines. Being a better ninja meant that Naruto wanted to truly improve.

Thinking for a bit, Iruka agreed to Naruto with a smile saying, "Sure, I can put aside these grading for a bit longer while I help you."

"YATTA!" Naruto shouted in happiness.

Iruka smiled at the antics that Naruto showed when excited. Thinking of the first thing that Naruto was bad of, Chakra control appeared in his head. This was a true test on whether Naruto had enough conviction to be a better Ninja.

Taking out a leaf, he gave it to Naruto with a smile and said, "Being a better Ninja means overcoming your weaknesses right?"

Naruto gave Iruka horror stuck face knowing what he was going to work on.

However Naruto had to admit that this was a major weakness that he had…perhaps he could do the Clone Jutsu with this later on. Thus Naruto nodded and Iruka felt joy and pride for Naruto.

As a teacher, Iruka had to explain the reasons first, "Naruto, Chakra Control is one of the essential tools a Ninja need to keep up with. The better Chakra Control you have, the better you'll be."

"But how does Chakra Control help me? Doesn't having more Chakra mean you're stronger?" asked Naruto.

Iruka chuckled and simply said, "Naruto, say if you have two people doing the same jutsu say…the Shadow Clone Jutsu you learnt."

Naruto nodded.

"Both have the same amount of Chakra and are using the same amount in the Jutsu. Who do you think will be better off, the one with better control or the one with less control?"

"Better since the amount of Chakra they have are the same" answered Naruto.

Iruka nodded and said, "Right, the one will better control may make 25 clones while the one with less control may make only 20 clones at once. Therefore the better control you have, the more clones you can make ultimately. Plus you need better Chakra Control to learn those awesome powerful jutsu you are asking for all the time. Too little Chakra and they won't work, too much and they can explode in your face"

He chuckled at the fright Naruto was showing.

Inside of Naruto's head, he could think of countless powerful jutsus for him to use…but he lacked the control to use any of them.

"Like hell I'm not going to learn those awesome jutsus!" Naruto snacked the leaf and stuck it on his forehead while pressing Chakra to stick it on his head. After a few seconds, the leaf fell off his forehead and Naruto cursed.

Saying goodbye to Iruka while getting some more leaves, Naruto swore that he would master the Leaf Exercise method.

As such, he spent a lot of time pouring more and more Chakra onto the leaf which did nothing but either blow it away or crush it into dust. Naruto after a few painful hours realised that this was not the method to do things.

Thus he started to decrease the amount of Chakra he was using and quickly found out that the leaf stuck better on him when he used less Chakra mysteriously.

'Hmm…even though I used more Chakra, it was more difficult to stick a leaf on my forehead but when I decreased the amount from what was normal it was easier….' Naruto thought. It wasn't like he was stupid; he simply went with his happy mask most of the time.

If that was the case, what would happen if he decreased the amount of Chakra for the Clone Jutsu.

It wasn't like he knew how much Chakra was needed to perform the jutsu and how much he was using. Naruto recalled that Iruka-sensei said something about too much Chakra making the jutsu explode on him.

'Is that the reason why I can't do the Clone Jutsu?' he wondered as he prepared as little Chakra as he could do and shouted, "Clone Jutsu" while making the hand-seals.

Poof!

A clone appeared but unlike before, it wasn't completely dead though it looked like that either way. The Clone was white in colour and looked extremely sick but was there.

It was alive and worked to a small extent.

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered seeing that one of his biggest problems could be solved.

With glee, Naruto spent the next couple of days focusing solely on his Chakra Control and it was already having some effect. Naruto could feel there wasn't the usual _grinding_ that went with using a jutsu, any jutsu. Now that he thought about it, every time he wanted to use Chakra, he found it as if he was breaking open a flood rather than turning a tap.

No, if he had to compare it to other people than his Chakra Control was like a dam.

A rusty dam that needed to be worked on to hold back the Chakra he had. Naruto wasn't foolish about himself and other people than most think. He knows that he has more Chakra than normal. The problem was that he did not know how much.

Soon enough the day where they were sorted into teams appeared again and Naruto headed to the Academy a bit more confident than before. He knew where he was going to be placed after all so he had no need to be nervous.

He went through the previous conversation pretty much the same and sat down to the other side of the table to the Teme.

Frowning he felt as if he forgot something important.

BANG!

The sliding door as pushed aside as two of the Teme's fangirls appeared all tired and sweaty. Now that Naruto knew what was going to happen, he pushed down the feeling of wanting to get Sakura to notice him and then tried to get away from his current seat.

Too bad he was too late.

"Get out of the way Naruto-baka!" Sakura shrieked hurting his ears a bit again.

He felt punches and kicks as both Ino and her pushed him aside for the Teme. A hollow feeling came from Naruto that he could not place.

Why did they push him aside when he was going to move either way?

Another minute of struggle between the two resulted in Sakura 'winning' again, sitting next to Sasuke and Naruto getting back his seat this time.

Having the same thoughts as before, Naruto thought of why Sasuke had everything given to him, even the girls as they throw themselves at him! (Forgetting Hinata again). It wasn't fair! As Naruto was about to move to try to intimidate the Teme, he remembered what happened before.

The kiss, he shuddered.

And the beating Sakura-chan gave him for 'stealing' the Teme's first kiss.

That was enough to damper his spirits a bit as next to him, Sakura completely ignored him in favour of cooing the Teme while he completely ignored her as well. Looking around the classroom, he could feel the stares of hate going to Sakura-chan and wondered how the hell did she not feel all of that.

Even as a child, Naruto could always feel the stares of hate on him so he quickly blocked it out but he always knew they were there.

He simply ignored them now.

Sakura-chan however seemed…ignorant of them. With a sigh, Naruto took out a leaf and place it on the back of his hand. He moved onto from simply sticking the leaf on his forehead which was one of the harder places to gather Chakra to.

Next was his hands and then finally his feet if what Iruka as right.

The feet would be the hardest place to gather Chakra with since they were the furthest from his main Chakra Coils. Again from Iruka when he went back for tips and hints to help him more.

Now he had to wait for team selection to finish…and this time without the hindrance of spoiled milk found out what Sakura thought of him using the Teme's form of course.

To say he was hurt was an understatement; he almost completely lost his feelings for her there.

Almost.

He was crushing on her for years now and that can't completely disappear immediately without extra cause. For some reason he found Sasuke staring at him which was unnerving for the next three hours where they waited for Kakashi.

Naruto placed the same trap as before and Kakashi fell for it again which once again questioned the ability of the Jonin.

They went through introducing themselves again and once again were told of this test. And thus ended another day.

* * *

Naruto was having a hard time on the test.

Even though he told both Sakura and grudgingly Sasuke about the true purpose of the test, they completely ignored him! Thus he had to face Kakashi again.

Oh Naruto knew this was the wrong approach but he wanted to see what he could have done differently, he wasn't going to get hit with that Thousand Years of Pain ass-poke again. Substitution was a god sent for that.

"You know that you usually hide instead of facing me head on right? Are you wrong in the head or something?" asked Kakashi lazily. If Naruto knew anything of his sensei even if it was a very short time, it was that he was lazy.

"The only thing wrong is your hair!" Naruto screamed attacking him. Once again, Naruto fell for being provoked but did things a bit more differently this time.

Instead of charging in, he threw weapons at Kakash before charging him. Kakashi either casually dodged or blocked the weapons thrown at him with a single hand and blocked when Naruto kicked to his head. A brief series of combos later, Kakashi was behind Naruto again about to Ass-poke him again.

His hands were in the Ram sigh and he thought he heard someone scream a warning to him.

"Hidden Leaf Secret Technique: Thousand Years of Pain!"

Poof!

Instead of Naruto's ass he hit (thankfully), Kakashi's fingers hit a log instead just in time for Naruto appeared behind Kakashi with the same hand sign shouting, "Hidden Leaf Secret Technique: Thousand Years of Pain!"

Poof!

In a mirror situation, Naruto's fingers hit the log as well and they hurt like hell when they did! What the hell did Kakashi do to not be harmed when he hit the log. Naruto thought one of his fingers was broken as a result.

"Too naïve Naruto" said Kakashi pulling out the same orange book again.

Huh, last time Naruto thought he pulled it out during the first taijutsu part between them. Either way it didn't matter to Naruto as he made a cross sign (despite a finger broken) and shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The battle pretty much went as last time, Naruto being beaten up; though this time he didn't fall for the oblivious trap and instead used a Shadow Clone to test it out.

Kakashi still took the bell from under him but praised him for using a decoy first.

But Kakashi still tied him up on the log and failed them in the seemed to be no differences there at least. Everything went to black as Naruto felt himself go to the next loop.

* * *

Another 3 loops passed by with Naruto still focusing on Chakra Control since that was the only thing Iruka advised him to.

According to him, his Chakra Control was mid-range for an Academy Student now which both excited and depressed him.

A full month of training on Chakra Control solely and this was all he got?

'No, it was a full month that was made up of 4 weeks individually each time. If my Chakra Control sucks doesn't it mean I can just repeat this until my control is better?' he thought. Plus focusing only on Chakra Control was a waste.

There was only so much he could do with a leaf in trying to control his Chakra.

He would have to ask Iruka what areas he was also lacking in and help him if he could.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 2: Loop 5 End (Total Loops: 8)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

This is where Naruto starts to exploit the Time Loop to get stronger. Really, you have an extremely unbalanced character whose lacking in so many areas. What do you do?

You train him up to make him balanced while at the same time improving his strengths. The main parts of the story till the Wave Arc will be about Naruto becoming an all-rounder.


	5. Chapter 4 - List of Weaknesses

**Chapter 4: List of Weaknesses**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

As Naruto woke up again, he figure that he should make a note somewhere that told him of what Loop he was currently on

At least so he wouldn't be lost on the course of time.

Infinitely looping was scary as hell but with a way to progress it wasn't so much.

Again, Naruto went to Iruka for help who was grading stuff again. Since he had never declined Naruto who needed help instead of focusing to grading before, he repeated his request to Iruka who was once again motivated to teach him.

Taking out a leaf, he gave it to Naruto with a smile and said, "Being a better Ninja means overcoming your weaknesses right?"

Naruto smiled back and took it placing it on his forehead and stuck it there and then said, "I can do this with the back of my hands as well."

He smiled seeing the shocked expression on Iruka's face but frowned and added, "I know this much but my control still sucks. Is there anything to help with this?"

Iruka pondered for a second. The next step would logically be Tree Climbing or its more uncommon and far more accurate name Surface Clinging but that was a skill Genin would learn from their teachers not him. But then, Iruka remembered how to still increase your Chakra Control with the leaf exercise.

"Naruto, the next part of this exercise would be to make the lead float just above your head while only using Chakra. This is more difficult than simply sticking it on your head so you can work on that."

Nodding excitedly for a new challenge, Naruto swore that he would have a really good control over his Chakra eventually. But that wasn't exactly what Naruto was here for.

"Sensei" he said drawing the attention of Iruka again, "Can you tell me what other areas I'm lacking on. I mean I know I suck at Chakra Control but I feel like I'm weak in lots of other areas as well. I want to improve them as well and knowing is a start."

Iruka smiled at the words that his student-no former student said.

To overcome your weaknesses you need to know them first. Naruto was certainly growing, not by much compared to other people but still.

"Okay then" Iruka agreed, "But don't be disheartened about me talking about ALL of your weaknesses."

Naruto gulped and mentally prepared himself.

"From the most basic things after Chakra Control of course" Iruka solemnly said, "The first would be your reading and writing skills."

"Huh?" Naruto was dumbfound.

He was expecting something like poor Taijutsu or something like that instead of this. But before Naruto could argue, Iruka held his palm out stopping him while continuing.

"Reading is important since you need to read the mission scroll and learn as much as you can to complete it. Sometimes there are hidden messages in them and you can't figure any of it out if you can't read."

Naruto looked down. He knew that someday his ability to read would bite him back in the butt.

It wasn't like he couldn't read…no one taught him and he had to figure out fragments out of the language. He remembered Iruka teaching him some words but duty and teaching were in the way.

Iruka smiled sadly at Naruto knowing what was going in his head.

He was one of the very few people who ever bother to teach him properly. He swore that he would help him read if he ever asked but he had a list to go through and the quicker he did this, the less hurt Naruto would be.

"Writing on the other hand is used for writing mission reports mainly though as a Genin you won't need to since your Jonin-sensei will take care of that. Plus writing also goes into areas like Fuinjutsu, the art of sealing as well and can be used to deliver messages to comrades instead of telling them directly or God forbid by shouting out the message."

Naruto once again looked down, his inability to read well as only overshadowed by his inability to write as well.

However he saw the look on Iruka's eyes that said he would help him no matter what.

"Next up is your Taijutsu which I have to say is the worse thing I have ever seen. You have no stance which may work in some situations but your fighting style is of a brawler with nothing to back it up. If not for your stamina and endurance in fighting, you would easily lose to a recent Academy Student" Iruka said moving along.

Naruto muttered something about it not being his fault.

He wasn't taught anything about Taijutsu and the ones he did felt wrong to him. And if he dared tried to adjust it, the teacher would make them revert back to the one that felt wrong.

"Stealth is another basic skill which you lack in and before you say that you can escape ANBU know that you could have, should have been able to not get caught in the first place. First that needs to be adjusted would be your attitude, there is nothing noble about being a ninja and you should always take advantage of something. Second would be your clothes."

"Hey! Orange is awesome!" Naruto protested.

He liked orange the best for some reason, even though he knew better but damn, that colour drew him in easily and he liked wearing them.

"Nothing wrong about orange but rather the ratio it's in for your clothes…black or darker colours are what ninjas wear. Notice how most of the ninjas over Chunin wear dark green or something similar?" he asked to which Naruto nodded.

That made some sense since Genin were new ninjas and everyone above them were more experienced and better in general; not that it helped them catch him. It wasn't going to enjoy those bulky flak jackets though.

"If you can, make sure you can get some new clothes that aren't completely focused on neon orange that would make you a target" Iruka ordered.

Naruto wined at that; it wasn't going to happen even if he wished for it.

However Naruto once again looked down saying, "But none of the clothing stores would let me in…let alone buy something."

Iruka frowned hearing this.

What kind of place would deny service to a person, let alone a child? He now realised the extent of the hatred that the Kyuubi caused and how much it had affected Naruto.

He could shop for Naruto but he couldn't rely on him all the time…

Iruka perked up remembering another useful idea to use on spying missions, "In that case use the Transformation Jutsu. Usually only those Jonin and up and those who specialise in Genjutsu can tell if someone is using it."

Naruto's mouth made an O shape as he started at his teacher. Why the hell didn't he think of that before?!

Chuckling at Naruto, Iruka knew he had to move onto other parts Naruto could improve on. There was really only two other basic areas which Naruto needed to work on before having to move onto the more advance areas.

"Next up would be your Genjutsu or lack of ability to use it, dispel it or even detect it" he said, "While using Genjutsu would be near impossible for you since it requires good Chakra Control not average, you need to be able to at least detect it and dispel it else you will be caught up in the illusions of the enemy."

Naruto nodded, he knew from some experience when a drunk ninja once trapped him in an illusion of a beating and he thought it was real…not that it was really different. But Naruto found that causing that much pain with something not real…frightening.

"Finally there is your Ninjutsu skills" Iruka said to which he noticed that Naruto flinched expecting the worse, "Its actually not as bad as you think. While you are incapable of using the Clone Jutsu due to your control, you are more able to use Chakra draining Jutsu that require less control."

Naruto smiled at the praise no matter how little it was.

"However what you have in power you lack in control" Iruka continued, "There are many minor jutsus that will be essential later on and you can't use them unless you not only have control over your Chakra but also your jutsu as well. It takes far too long for you to use a Jutsu as well Naruto and that goes in gathering Chakra, moulding it with hand-seals and executing the jutsu. You need to work on all of that on every jutsu you learn."

Naruto gulped.

It seemed like a lot of things in order to use a jutsu properly. Remembering the amount of time it takes him to use a simple Transformation jutsu however; Naruto had to agree with Iruka on this. He needed to train in those areas.

His hand-seal speeds were below average and but he never use a jutsu with more than 3 hand-seals required. He managed to cut down on the required amount of hand-seals for both Transformation and Substitution since he used them so often in pranks.

Looking at the time, Iruka realised how long he was speaking and motioned at Naruto saying, "Want to eat some Ramen, I'll explain the rest of the things you need to improve on at Ichiraku."

"YAY!" Naruto cheered.

Due to the fact that he had been training a lot, his time at the Ramen stand dramatically decreased without him knowing which in hindsight meant he was eating more instant Ramen than anything else.

* * *

At Ichiraku Ramen, Naruto was happily eating his 5th bowl of Miso Ramen and at the same time depleting any funds that Iruka had saved up.

It was at that point where Iruka desperately needed for Naruto to stop eating else he would have nothing else to eat for a week.

"Naruto" he said getting the attention of the blonde boy, "Since we have both eaten up…" ignoring the fact that Naruto was actually only half full, "We should go on with our conversation from earlier."

Naruto nodded to what Iruka said and listened.

"Though I explained some of the more basic skills you should have, there are other aspects of a ninja that you should cover as well. These areas are usually what makes a ninja a Chunin rather than Genin after a while."

Iruka saw Naruto nodding as he explained, "Two of the most important things here are knowledge and strategy. Knowledge of course can be used in many ways to determine what to do in a situation while strategy is more often used while fighting such as preparing a jutsu to protect yourself from enemy attacks while moving and so on. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"Umm…." Honestly Naruto wasn't getting why this was important.

He didn't have much knowledge but was good enough and strategy was something used when you weren't strong enough to fight head on.

Seeing his face and most likely reading his mind, Iruka sighed and said, "Naruto, we are ninja. We need to use every single advantage we can grab onto. It's better to stab someone in the back rather than charge him head on alerting him. This is the kind of world we live him" he smiled sadly at the young boy.

While he wanted for Naruto to live in bliss for a bit more it was better for him to know a bit of the reality in the world…though he had suspected that Naruto already knew.

Iruka continued in his explanations saying, "Next would be Trapping and Wiring which also go together. Most ninjas don't both with this area but it can be useful at time since you can suddenly take down enemies without them knowing before its too late. Think of Trapping as pranking the enemy with lethal force. Wiring is the same but is more of an added way for traps."

"Iruka-sensei, why don't people use traps more often? I mean I can paint the Hokage Faces in board daylight easily enough. It seems easy enough" asked Naruto which caused Iruka to sweat drop.

Only Naruto was capable of doing such a feat.

Naruto on the other hand was thinking of the pranks he did over the years.

While all of them were harmless to those he pranked he did target some people. Mainly those who wronged him in some ways or attacked him which were the main reason he started to prank people other than the attention. After pranking those people, he noticed that they would be less likely to act against him which was a good indication to continue pranking…

'Hmm…should I include pranking-no trapping into my ninja skill set?' he wondered.

He was known as unpredictable and if he managed to prank Kakashi during that test…

Naruto snickered at the thought which confused Iruka greatly.

"Okay…anyway there are two more areas that aren't exactly weaknesses but rather skills you should learn sooner or later" said Iruka as Naruto listened in extra carefully.

"One of them is the camping skills which refer to the 5 E rank elemental jutsus that you can use to set up camp. The requirements of these jutsus are so low you don't need an elemental affinity for them. The second would be Chakra sensing. While you most likely won't be on the same level as a Sensor ninja unless you're on as well, sensing Chakra in general will warn you of any jutsu being moulded and allows you a split second advantage over a person who does not."

Naruto agreed with that statement, he knew from several pranks that he barely got away or barely got caught due to a split second difference. With that all done, Naruto was in his thought sorting things out.

Out of the things he should focus on; Chakra Control like Iruka said came first and could be constantly trained so he figured he should move onto the next most needed thing he needed as a person not a ninja.

"Say…Iruka-sensei, can you teach me how to read and write later?" he asked shyly.

Iruka beamed at Naruto and answered, "Of course."

* * *

 _Checkpoint 2: Loop 6 End (Total Loops: 9)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

This chapter is a bit unique in that it is pretty much nothing more as a basis of where Naruto has to grow in the areas where he is...lacking.

Also, anyone else find it funny that Naruto can outrun Chunin, Jonin and ANBU (Even if they're not allowed to kill or harm him)while Iruka can easily find him? The same guy who has several clan heirs/children of the clan head and the last of 2 Clans in Konoha that later make up the 'Rookie 9' in his class?

I mean, you wouldn't place the protection of children, your military's future in the hands of people who are weak especially if they will be part of important people in the future.


	6. Chapter 5 - Joys of Reading

**Chapter 5: Joys of Reading**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Right now Naruto counted that he was on his 15th Loop ever since this started, the 11th Loop since he actually graduated and became a Ninja and the 6th Loop since he asked for Iruka's help on reading and writing.

And he could say that there were so many damn things that were taken from him when the figured to make him unable to read and write.

He even used the transformation jutsu to enter the library and it was wonderful.

In here there was no one to stare at him and no one to throw him out; that is if he kept up his transformation. He had a time limit of around 5 minutes with his current abilities.

Because of this he couldn't actually read many books without notice unless he avoided people which made the experience a bit less fun for him.

But the thing Naruto was most pleased of was that he could read and write now thanks to the month of tutoring that Iruka gave him. This was aside from the attention, good will and his headband was the best thing anyone ever given him.

Another thing Naruto took notice of was his Chakra Control which was finally at High Academy Student levels.

Taking the leaf exercise to the direction Iruka said, Naruto managed to float the leaf above his forehead. After that Naruto tried sticking two leaves on his forehead and do the leaf exercise twice at once.

Needless to say that the difficulties were ramped up several times with that to the point Naruto wasn't able progress there at all without a way to split his consciousness into two in relation to Chakra.

Though Naruto did wonder a couple of times if he was doing this wrong; he would need to read up some Chakra Theory to see if he was missing something.

Transforming into a Genin he saw before, an average looking boy the same height as him with brown hair, Naruto walked into the Library. He had used different transformations each time to make sure no one was suspicious of him and went directly to the area that talked about Chakra Theory. This was the first time he went here since he wanted for information about…everything else first.

Konoha history was actually interesting and he learnt a great deal about how the ninja system worked and why.

There were actually five ranks aside from Kage. Genin, Chunin, Special Jonin, Jonin and Elite Jonin.

From Genin and Chunin was easy for most people with enough hard work.

Special Jonins were ninja with one area in the Jonin rank while everything else could be Chunin or even Genin level.

Jonins were those with two areas that were Jonin rank else one area in the Jonin rank and everything else in the Chunin rank

And finally Elite Jonin were those with at least three areas in Jonin rank else some exceptions.

Like having an area that you were Kage rank in or something completely unique; this would be a good deal for an exception if he ever saw one. One Taijutsu obsessed ninja proved that for a fact.

Picking up a book labelled 'Basic Chakra Theory for Beginners' he read it in his mind.

 _Chakra is the even mix between physical and spiritual energy in the body. Physical energy comes from the body and represents the health of the person, their immune system and stamina. Spiritual energy comes from the mind and represents the mental health of the person, their memory and analytic abilities. Thus by training your body and training your mind, you are able to increase your Chakra Capacity and by mixing these two properties, Chakra is created and can be moulded by the user._

 _Moulding Chakra actively drains your reserves and depending on the amount, it may cause dust to small rocks to rise from the ground around the user. Furthermore it has the added effect of passively increasing your physical abilities by a small margin if you do not use it for any jutsus. There are many theories on why this happens but the most agreed on reason is that when Chakra has the effect of amplifying the effects of anything it resides in and when Chakra is moulded inside of you, the Chakra is amplifying your abilities as well._

 _Using Chakra in a jutsu is another unique thing that occurs. By making hand-seals; you are actually forcing the Chakra to form in a certain way to give effect to a jutsu. Hand-seals due to this are a crutch for ninjas to rapidly use jutsu and can be decreased by repetition of the jutsu due to your body's Chakra having a memory of forming in the way that hand-seals would have normally force it to form. Due to this, with enough practise, there are many ninjas able to cut down the number of hand-seals needed for a jutsu or even use jutsu without hand-seals at all. However even Chakra has its limits and large scale jutsus are impossible for people to use seal-less._

Naruto continued to read the book and found it interesting at the very least.

It explained the concept of Chakra quite well and why Ninjas used it. Then it went to list the different hand-seals and how they affected jutsus as well which was surprising though it did not talk on _why_ it did. He would have to search other more advanced books.

'Hmm…I should read the book on Chakra Control theory as well, might let me figure out a new Chakra Control exercise without resorting to go to Iruka-sensei all the time' he thought.

He was more than grateful to the man especially ever since he started to read.

The Konoha Library was actually quite large though part of it was restricted with Chunin guarding the Genin section and ANBU guarding everything else higher; not that they could detect him either way which was strange since Iruka said all Jonin and that included ANBU could detect the Transformation jutsu.

Though Naruto's only problem was that he couldn't use the jutsu for long, he needed more control over the jutsu and his own Chakra for that.

Finishing the book, Naruto noticed his Transformation was undone and recasted it and then took out a book on something else he wanted to work on.

Taijutsu.

To be precise it was the Taijutsu book on the Academy Style which was completely average and neutral in everything.

Naruto read that this style was made by the Nidaime Hokage as a basis for all Shinobi in Konoha when they were Academy Students and not ninjas yet.

The style would allow the person to more easily adapt to any styles they would later learn as well as allow Academy Students to stall enemies until a more trained ninja appeared.

Who said the Nidaime Hokage didn't do much for the village?

From what he read in the histories of Konoha; while the Shodaime Hokage founded the village with his long-time friend Uchiha Madara, The Sandaime Hokage was the longest reigning Hokage or Kage with the exception of the Sandiame Tsuchikage and the Yondaime Hokage was known for stopping the Kyuubi with his own life; the Nidaime seemed to have done more than all of them for Konoha.

He was the one who established the Ge-Chu-Jo system which allowed the Five Great Villages and everyone else judge the strength of a Ninja as well as the S-A-B-C-D rank for missions and ninja alike.

He was the one who made the Academy the way it was, teaching them the basis of everything to know to be a Ninja.

And he was also the one who made most of the base policies that were still being used today in the village. But most importantly he also established the Konoha Library which held texts and jutsus for all Shinobi of appropriate rank to have.

While the Yondaime was his hero, the Sandaime was like his grandfather and the Shodaime was the first; Naruto actually respected the Nidaime a lot for his work.

Not that he would actually say that aloud, not many people actually respected the Nidaime a lot apparently since he was called a cold man. Plus he was kinda overshadowed by his older brother and the fact that most of the things he did were behind closed doors and not recorded.

Anyway, Naruto passed the rest of the loop reading and on the 16th Loop since the start he went to Iruka to help him with his Taijutsu.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto waved at the man who just finished grading the same papers time and time again in Naruto's perspective.

"Naruto?" Iruka looked surprised as always and Naruto grinned to that.

It was good to know what the other person felt at times.

"I need a favour" he said scratching the back of his head as he was nervous. He didn't know how Iruka would react…lecturing him was fine but…

"I need some help with my Taijutsu" Naruto answered before Iruka could say anything.

To Iruka, Naruto seemed strange but the previous say it was revealed of why he was hated so much in the village and one of his trusted teachers betrayed him as well; not that there were many.

Not wanting the boy in front of him to be in more pain though not knowing that Naruto really didn't care about Mizuki at this point, he agreed and said, "Sure though I can only teach you the Academy style."

Naruto grinned back at his long time sensei and said, "That's what I'm hoping for."

* * *

Naruto was now at Loop 20 which he had counted.

Things were really getting drawn out as he found out that while his mind might comprehend a Taijutsu style via the loops, his body; his muscle memory did not. Furthermore he found out that this was due to his muscles resetting each time and therefore caused his hand-seal speeds to constantly be painfully slow.

"What's weird is your hair!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi charging at him.

Right now, he had used a full week solely on Taijutsu alone to prepare himself again Kakashi-sensei. The lazy man with his better Taijutsu and Shadow Clones seemed to take him a bit seriously now.

While running Naruto made the oh familiar cross sign and shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" creating another 5 copies of him.

Unlike before, he sent three of them to attack first coordinating with each other to-

Poof Poof Poof

Annnnd they were easily defeated.

Naruto was not surprise at that at all; his Taijutsu was only Academy level though bordering Genin level. Either way, a Jonin can easily destroy his clones without trouble.

Naruto signalled to the other two clones to start throwing weapons at Kakashi-sensei just before they too were destroyed.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto shouted for a second time.

This time 20 clones appeared at once. His Chakra Control was now good enough that he was able to summon the amount of clones he wanted to a factor of 3 clones variable with larger amounts.

"You can make that many?!" Kakashi blurted out in disbelief.

He had heard his blonde student was able to use that jutsu but to this extent…his Chakra must be extremely large, larger than his at least.

"But…numbers won't get you anywhere!" Kakashi said with a more serious look on his face.

In an instant, Naruto heard a large number of his clones being popped with a large number of slashes as they charged at Kakashi with their average Taijutsu.

* * *

To summarise what happened at the end, Naruto stilled failed though he made sure that Kakashi worked a bit harder for it. Now that his Taijutsu was at a good enough level for now, he decided it would be good to focus on another area for a while.

Genjutsu defence training would be useless against Kakashi right now so he disregarded that for a bit and while Ninjutsu was useful in making his Jutsus better, it wouldn't help that much as well.

Therefore Naruto decided he would work on his stealth and trapping skills with some tracking on the side.

Using the Transformation jutsu again to gain access to the library, he read up on some basic details on each of the areas. Naruto had a soft spot for Trapping and also looked up details on wiring and how they could be used in Trapping.

Turns out that it was extremely similar to how his pranks worked out. He grinned at the thought that his years of pranking was training for this.

Naruto had a whole list of pranks that he could use but made a mental list on the more…lethal types of traps that he could make currently. Most of the more complex ones involved seals or Fuinjutsu which he was not familiar with…hmm he could look up the subject later on.

However after a loop, Naruto was quite familiar with flinging weapons from different directions, pitfall traps and smoke bomb traps or rather the stink bomb traps which were wonderful as a distraction.

Naruto didn't even bother to show up to the team selection as he went on to read and apply in practise some of the traps as pranks to various random mean people in the village but not before reading up on some things about stealth.

Naruto changed his outfit temporary into a darker green colour to blend into the background forest more easily and also practised decreasing his breathing and moving sounds.

Breathing through the nose was a useful habit to have since you make less noise in breathing and can detect foreign substance in the air as well.

As for tracking…Naruto spent the next four loops on it along with Chakra Control, Taijutsu, Trapping and Stealth so that area progressed quite slowly. Naruto couldn't get the hang on using Chakra to enhance his senses since he lacked the control to do it properly without overloading it and damaging those parts of his body.

But he quickly found out that through pranks once again that he was quite good a tracking small movements and other clues to avoid people and thus find them as well.

* * *

 _Loop 25 End._

* * *

 **A/N:**

This chapter is more information dumping. The 5 ranks of Genin, Chunin, Special Jonin, Jonin and Elite Jonin makes a lot more sense to me than the 4 ranks in Canon where you sometimes have Jonins, the top of the pack being beaten in mass by a single S-rank immediately.

I mean you have Kakashi and Gai, both Jonin who can fight S-rank enemies and even defeat them while there are no other recorded people Jonin rank (A-rank) who can fight on par with S-rank ninjas.

Therefore, those two are Elite Jonin. The true top of the pack who can even face S-rank enemies and not die immediately.

Moreover, does anyone else think that the Nidaime Hokage was the least developed of ALL Hokages. I mean we know all about all the other Hokages but the Nidaime? Nope, nothing. He just died in a battle from what we know saving his students and naming the Sandaime Hokage.

Seeing the Shodaime Hokage is frankly an idiot, I made it so that the Nidaime in his rule set up the real foundations of the Hidden Village System. There are tones of stories out there that label the Nidaime the origins of ROOT as well since he was Danzo's teacher.


	7. Chapter 6 - Difficulties with Genjutsu

**Chapter 6: Difficulties with Genjutsu**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto awoke to his 26th Loop which meant that he was pretty much repeating things for half a year now.

Half a year and he could say that most of his time in the Academy was actually wasted and/or the teachers there were really into sabotaging him. Right now he could rank himself as following:

Ninjutsu: Mid Academy Student (Exception of Shadow Clones)

Taijutsu: High Academy Student

Genjutsu: Near Zero skill

Chakra Capacity: Jonin

Chakra Control: High Academy Student

Weapon Throwing Aim: High Academy Student

Stealth: High Chunin (High Genin in neon orange)

Trapping/Wiring: Chunin

Needless to say that he realised he was quite unbalanced in too many ways.

Other than his Shadow Clones, he really didn't have that much skill in his Ninjutsu, Taijutsu was just there after 5 loops of working on it, Genjutsu he didn't even start yet and he didn't even want to talk about the gap in his Chakra Capacity and Control.

His aim with weapon throwing was at a decent level so far with him getting around 5-6 hit out of 10 with a still target while his stealth was always good but not good to the point that some of the more skilled Ninjas can't track him.

Not his fault that so called Chunin and Jonin and even ANBU sucked at tracking him. Though his traps were quite good he had never been able to prank the ANBU headquarters or the Hokage Tower directly and made a point to never try to after a firm lecture and threat from the Hokage-jiji about banning Ramen from the village.

The Horror.

Looking at his current abilities which naturally excluded strength, speed and stamina since they wouldn't increase that much in the loop; Naruto figured he needed to at least be able to break through Genjutsu which was a Genin level skill for those with enough Chakra Control.

Going back to the library again, Iruka was fine but Naruto preferred to learn at his own pace which was evidently a bit slower than other people than Iruka-sensei liked.

Naruto Transformed into his disguise look and went to find a book on Genjutsu for starters and then hope it included a way to break through them or hopefully let him cast them at all.

After spending 10 minutes on finding the book called 'Genjutsu the Art of Illusions', Naruto sat down and read through the book absorbing everything he learn.

 _Genjutsu is the art of illusions and is the most difficult of the arts to learn and master due to its strict Chakra Control restriction. However this is not only the reason as Gejutsu requires a creative mind that will not bend as well which is a rare combination to find. Furthermore, unlike Ninjutsu or Taijutsu; Genjutsu is rarely copied due to its subdue nature and the fact that it uses Yin Chakra rather than purely Yang Chakra like Taijutsu or a combination of both like Ninjutsu._

 _In order for Genjutsu is work, the user must first align their own Chakra with the target's Chakra system to control it. Such reasons is why certain Bloodlines aren't as affected to Genjutsu than others such as the Hyuuga Clan and Uchiha Clan who have Dojutsu that both see Chakra and through illusions. It then takes precise control for the user to trap the target into a Genjutsu and control part of their senses; which is the main reasons of the requirement of high Chakra Control._

 _There are many forms of Genjutsu such as the most common visual and sound type that affects the target's visual and hearing. The more uncommon type of Genjutsu out there includes those that affect the target's touch and pain reception making it used often for interrogation. However there are rarer forms of Genjutsu that touches on delusions and fantasies but it is known though never completely verified that the most dangerous types of Genjutsu includes the Kurama Clan's illusions which inflicts physical damage on targets and the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan which is said to have a forbidden Genjutsu that can affect time perception._

 _However Genjutsu are split into three different categories; Outer Illusions, Inter Illusions and Hypnosis._

 _Outer Illusions are Genjutsu that are based on changing the appearance of something so that the outside world interprets it differently. The transformation jutsu is one example of this even though it counts as a Ninjutsu. This is the easiest kind of Genjutsu to use,_

 _Inner Illusions are Genjutsu that are casted in individuals to adjust how they interpret the world around them without alerting others and sometimes the victim to this. Most Genjustu fall under this category due to the large amount that affects the senses of the victim and the sheer number of senses a person has._

 _Hypnosis is a Genjutsu that is the most difficult kind of Genjutsu to use since they are capable of manipulating all of a person's senses at once and can be used to shatter the victim's psyche if used correctly. There are often long lasting effects of these kinds of Genjutsu and thus are often used in Interrrogation._

Right now, Naruto was quite hooked onto Genjutsu; they sounded like a great way for him to prank people! Too bad he didn't have the Chakra Control to use any…but if he could; Naruto imagined torturing Sasuke with one about Fan-girls finally getting their hands on him and being Yaoi Fan-girls at the same time whatever that means.

Reading on, Naruto eventually found the section he wanted.

While there may be various methods in obstructing Genjutsu, there are methods to dispel it which are commonly used.

 _The most common method that all people can use is to inflict pain on oneself to break through the Genjutsu. Doing so with disturb your Chakra System and thus the Genjutsu itself which is why it is used when the person is not as skilled enough to dispel it on their own. However there are limits to this as higher level Genjutsu which can control pain can overrule any attempts with this method._

 _The second method to break through Genjutsu is by manipulating your Chakra System to the point where the Genjutsu has no grasp on you. By compressing your Chakra and flaring it in a precise moment, the hold of the Genjutsu will break due to the disruption to your system. Alternatively you can flood your Chakra System to the point where Genjutsu won't affect you since it won't have enough power to manipulate your Chakra though this method will exhaust a large amount of Chakra in the process and is not recommended._

 _The third and last method which is the most simple is to let a comrade disrupt the Genjutsu on you. This has the same effect as the second method but is much more reliable since there will be another foreign Chakra in your system disrupting it instead of trying to rely on your own Chakra System that had been controlled to a certain extent._

Naruto was surprised at how simple it seemed to break through Genjutsu, especially for him who had high levels of Chakra Capacity compared to everyone else in his age group and even seniors to a certain extent.

'Though my Chakra Control is horrible to the point that everything control wise to me is several times more difficult' he thought bitterly at his huge reserves that seemed to get in the way right now.

But in the future…if his Chakra Control was high enough…

It was at that moment that Naruto decided he should read one of those Chakra Control books in order to find how to increase his Chakra Control to the point that he could at least use a minor Genjutsu. Going through the basic theory books, Naruto eventually found an interesting one titled 'Chakra and controlling it'.

Seeing that there was no harm reading it, he did.

 _Chakra is made of physical and spiritual energies in the body and the person usually do not know how much they contain in the body at all besides the fatigue that comes with draining it and measuring it that way. However there is a method to exactly see and determine how much Chakra you can use. This is usually done via mediation similar to how Academy Students do when they first unlock their Chakra._

 _However doing so after said event is several times more difficult mainly due to the amount of Chakra a person has in the beginning compared to those who are an adult. The method to do this is to sit near perfectly still and ignore your other senses and any outside influences to look inside of you. It is also said that Sensor type ninja have a much easier time doing this though it is also said the opposite since they can sense other people's Chakra it is much more difficult at the same time._

Stopping there, Naruto was much more interested than before. If he could see how much Chakra he had, he could possibly tell how much he needed to improve to use Genjutsu. He was going to do this no matter what!

Grinning, Naruto sat down and started to mediate while remembering that he was the first to unlock his Chakra back at the Academy that day.

Now that he thought about it; that should have clued him in onto his stupidly large Chakra reserves. Minutes passed by and while Naruto was getting impatient though he was a lot more patient ever since the Time Loops started. However just as he was about to give up, he saw; felt a flare come up in front of him.

There was a vortex of light and dark energy; Yin and Yang Chakra mixing together to create a blue energy inside of him that he recognised as Chakra. He grinned seeing that this was what he wanted to see.

"Now what…?" Naruto curiously drew his eyes away from the energies mixing and tried to see the source of the two energies itself.

After a bit Naruto found the source of the Yang Chakra to be from his heart and the Yin Chakra coming from his head which made sense. The two energies travelled to mix near his stomach area though for some reason Naruto found 8 gates in his body and hundreds of smaller openings which his Chakra moved around. He would need to research to see what those meant.

"Damn my Yin Chakra is so small!" Naruto shouted seeing the Yin Chakra more than often being overwhelmed by his Yang Chakra which was HUGE.

Remembering back to that book he read, Genjutsu required lots of Yin Chakra. How the hell was he going to use it when his Yang Chakra was so overwhelming?!

It was like it was telling him to give up on Genjutsu.

"Damnit!" Naruto broke from his mediations pissed off.

There was many things he couldn't do but with the Time Loop thing he was in, he figured he could eventually achieve it with lots and lots of time.

But seeing the state of his Yin Chakra, Naruto saw that it was next to impossible to forgetting about measuring his exact reserve size and a way to control it all.

Still pissed off, he continued to read the book at hand even though he wanted to throw it away.

 _In order your physical energy otherwise known as Yang Chakra, it is required for you to train your body. Doing so will increase not only your body's physical abilities but the amount of Yang Chakra that it produces. Similarly to increase spiritual energy or Yin Chakra, you are required to train your mind in tasks for are gradually difficult for you. Not only does it increase your thinking abilities, it will allow you to produce and use more Yin Chakra._

 _It is because of this that Ninjas are told to train both the body and mind as by doing both, you are able to balance out both energies and get the maximum amount of Chakra from the body. Training solely on your Chakra will only increase your reserves while maintaining the ratio between Yin and Yang Chakra in you. With more Chakra reserves, it is much more difficult to change this ratio significantly without lots of time. Also by balancing these two energies, it makes it easier to control Chakra overall._

Naruto stared at the page; the book itself gave a solution to his problem. It even gave him a possible way to also increase his Charka control at the same time! Perhaps if he balanced these energies enough, he could use Genjutsu.

'But then it wasn't like normal Genjutsu could actually help me against Kakashi. May I can use it on the Teme; that would be fun' he thought with a smirk. That thought on torturing the Teme a bit made him smile a bit.

However this still meant that he would not be able to use Genjutsu in the near future as well and the stuff that Iruka-sensei taught him only bordered the Genin level due to him being an Academy Teacher.

Though Iruka could but he didn't since it wasn't in his right to teach Academy Students Genin stuff.

Naruto understood after a while why this was. If Academy Students knew they were being taught Genin skills, they would be too arrogant and that would get them killed sooner or later.

Plus it was best to have a ninja who was average overall than heavily specialised and weak in everything else.

'Though that weakness is what teams are for' Naruto thought with sorrow. Sakura though smart wasn't that strong and while Sasuke was strong, he wasn't willing to help others.

It was due to this that Naruto started to try and think of a method to show 'teamwork' even if the two didn't. Hell Naruto knew the method in which to pass the test but didn't like being tied up to the log. Like hell would those two would help him.

'Sasuke-teme not helping me is fine but Sakura-chan as well…' Naruto was sad at the fact that Sakura would probably never recuperate his feelings.

But at the same time with the Time Loop, dating wasn't really something he could do without breaking his heart repeating the same things over and over again.

But moving back to his previous thoughts, Naruto looked up looks on strategies and the likes.

They would serve as a way to both increase his Spiritual energy and as a well to make more use of his Shadow Clones.

'Now that I think about it…I don't really know much of the jutsu. I have to ask Iruka on more about it or even Hokage-jiji since he's the Hokage who knows about this stuff' he thought.

And with that, Naruto read a couple of books on tactics which he was interested in using against Kakashi and headed off to see what he could really do with Shadow Clones.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 2: Loop 27 End (Total Loops: 30)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well this is another chapter that looks into the concepts of things. Genjutsu is something that Canon rarely touches on else via Sharingan. You pretty much only have Kurenai who is an active Genjutsu user in the series. That's kinda disappointing since at the beginning of the series, Sakura was hinted to be a Genjutsu type.

How does she end up? As a Taijutsu/Medic. The only time Sakura actually used Genjutsu was in the Third Naruto Movie and that wasn't even Canon!

Anyway I want to explore Genjutsu a lot more in this series especially on how it could be used. You have Itachi who can use a _finger_ to trap someone in a powerful Genjutsu and Madara who momentarily used Genjutsu to freeze a person for a split second.

Then we have all those Fics where Genjutsu is either overpowered as hell or pretty much non-existance as in Canon.

Besides that point, Genjutsu is **powerful** for a good reason. And while It'll take a while for Naruto to get his Chakra Control high enough and a proper teacher to teach him the basics, some certain Fics have a good point that Naruto would've been a good Genjutsu user.

The power behind Genjutsu is not that it can trap someone in an illusion but rather it can do so without them even knowing.

And not knowing is the fastest way to dying in the Shinobi World.


	8. Chapter 7 - Shadow Clone Training

**Chapter 7: Shadow Clone Training**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

"Damn, this is something that Iruka-sensei had nothing to say about" Naruto muttered while walking to the Hokage Tower.

He ignored the glares from the villagers and some fellow ninjas as he was deep in his thoughts.

From what Iruka said, the Shadow Clone Jutsu had a variant which he learnt instead called the Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu which was designed to summon more clones than usual for less Chakra compared to the normal Shadow Clone per clone and if the number of clones was high enough.

Though Naruto felt no difference in using either kinds of Jutsu, he realised this was mostly due to him having the largest Chakra reserves in a long time.

The fact that the users are more than often killed due to Chakra exhaustion was a good enough reason for this variant of the Shadow Clone jutsu to be forbidden. From what he heard by eavesdropping once or twice pulling up the topic, most Jonin know how to use it but don't due to the Chakra requirement.

This made Naruto slightly happy that he was able to use a stronger version of a Jutsu that even Jonin try to avoid using and put him in a good mood.

Humming around the way, Naruto entered the Hokage Tower and immediately rushed in to see the Hokage-jiji again.

It had been a couple of weeks to him that he popped in thanks to training so he was a bit more excited than usual.

"Jiji! I have a question!" he shouted getting the attention of the aged Hokage.

Putting down his pen the Hokage muttered something like, "Might as well, the paperwork can wait a bit" to Naruto's ears and also something about the paperwork being demons.

Tilting his head with a questioning look, Naruto looked to see that Hokage waved his comment off and asked, "So what do you need this old man for?" with a kind smile.

Naruto couldn't help but to smile back since the old man was always kind to him.

"I want to know more about the Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he declared in his loud and confidence way.

Raising an eyebrow, the Hokage asked, "You mean the one you learnt the previous night? I would have thought you have learnt all the details from the Forbidden Scroll or its more uncommon name; the Scroll of Sealing."

Naruto sleepishly smiled and said, "I kinda skipped reading most of it."

The aged Hokage sighed thinking that Naruto was lucky something didn't go wrong which would've ended in his death or worse, the Kyuubi being unsealed.

On one hand, the Hokage didn't want Naruto to do something stupid with the Jutsu but on the other hand, it was necessary for all Ninjas to know what they can do and their Jutsus.

In the end, the Hokage decided to tell Naruto what he needed to know and some tips to help him get stronger faster.

"Okay Naruto since you didn't read the script properly…" he let the warning not to do this again hang, "The Shadow Clone jutsu was made by my processor the Nidaime Hokage as a scouting and reconnaissance jutsu. The fact that the jutsu creates solid clones even though they can really take only one hit before dispelling allows the user to send the clone and search for information more effectively. I won't bore you in the details of what makes the jutsu works."

Naruto listened in surprised the Shadow Clone jutsu was that kind of jutsu.

"The most special part of this jutsu is that it sends the user's experience back to the original and any other clones that still exist when dispelling. This allows the clone to go in, get the information and dispel for the person to gain that information without risk."

Naruto nodded, so that was the true use of this jutsu.

"However" the aged Hokage continued, "Due to the effect that you are splitting your Chakra to create this clone, it is an exact copy of you as well as capable of using Jutsu as well. Because of this, some Shinobi are capable of using Collaborative Jutsus with a Shadow Clone to aid them. If you have 10 Shadow Clones use a Fire Jutsu than the effects are naturally larger right?"

"Yeah! Like how my Sexy Jutsu became Harem Jutsu with Shadow Clones!" Naruto said nodding his head sagely while the aged Hokage tried to stop his nosebleed thinking of said Jutsus.

"Yes…while the Shadow Clone jutsu does have that kind of use, there is another use for the shared memory the Jutsu carries which I find to be highly benefited for you who can use Shadow Clones on mass without strain" the old Hokage said making Naruto listen in even more.

"What is it? What is it?" Naruto asked wanting to know. Mere months in the loop didn't change his personality much at all.

The Hokage laughed and said one thing, "Training."

"Training?" Naruto crossed his arms and pouted while thinking making the Hokage chuckle before he explained.

"Since the Shadow Clone Jutsu allows you to gain memories of your clones, if you use two Clones than you would train twice as fast. With ten you train ten times faster and a hundred…" the Hokage let what he did not say for Naruto to fill in.

"Yahoo! I'm awesome!" Naruto cheering thinking of all the time that he would now save thanks to Time Loop.

Now he wouldn't need to decide what kind of training he would do since he could do them all at the same time!

He was about to charge out of the room to train when the Hokage called to him to stop.

"Wait wait wait a second Naruto" the Hokage shouted, "There are some risks I must address to you as well. I do not want something bad happen to you because you didn't take the time to listen to everything I had to say."

Naruto simply grinned sleepishly to this comment and stayed to hear what the old man said at least.

"Now like I said, there are weaknesses to this. Because the Jutsu transfers memories…you will be bombarded with too much information if too many Clones dispel at once. Furthermore you won't learn anything if this happens and you'll waste your time" the Hokage explained.

While Naruto wanted to bolt from just hearing that, a raised hand from the Hokage stopped him from running out again.

"There is also another side effect from the Jutsu you need to know as well though it is not that well known. The fact that it sends you memories means while you can train your Taijutsu with this, your body will not get stronger without you actually training" the Hokage said to the boy in front of him in a lecture tone.

Naruto nodded following what the old Hokage was saying.

"Furthermore along with this, you will also gain the exhaustion the clones you made got while they existed" the Hokage added, "This means if you get a clone to run 10 laps, you WILL feel the strain of running 10 laps when that clone dispels. This also means exhaustion from practising Chakra Control will also come back to you as well" he warned with a stern voice.

While the tension in the air was hard, Naruto noticed something when he looked at the paperwork that somehow grew higher while they talked.

"Hey jiji, why don't you use Shadow Clones to do your paperwork?" he asked in an innocent tone while inside he was smirking wanting to see the expression and actions of the old Hokage in finding this out.

However, that same Hokage laughed at Naruto saying, "I would have if I could young Naruto. The Fire Lord had banned the use of Shadow Clones while doing paperwork due to that fact that it wasn't 'me' who did them. And considering the mental backlash of too many Shadow Clones caused the Nidiaime to forget which paperwork he did (with Shadow Clones) causing him to redo _months_ of paperwork he did _with_ Shadow Clones..."

Both Hokage and future Hokage grimaced at the paperwork at the same time while the former shivered as well..

"Plus I'm old and supposed to be retired" the Hokage sighed, "My Chakra levels and my body is unfortunately only a faction what it used to be compared to my youth. Furthermore it should have been the Yondaime working here right now instead of me. I had to take up the reigns of Hokage again since there were no good enough candidates I could trust with the village."

"…."

Naruto looked down to the ground while patting his stomach thinking of what could have been if not for the Kyuubi. The Yondaime would have been alive and a lot of Shinobi from the village and people from the village would have lived like his parents.

"Ah Naruto! None of it is your fault! No one expected the Kyuubi to attack that day" the Hokage said getting up and holding his hands on his shoulder with some force shaking him a bit. Looking at the time with a sigh, the Hokage did one thing he knew would get Naruto's spirits up.

"Why don't we get some Ramen" said the old Hokage smiling when Naruto's eyes lit up.

"Really?" Naruto asked stretching the question out while also asked, "All I can eat?"

Seeing the sparkles in his eyes, the old Hokage could only sigh and quietly cry as Naruto emptied his wallet with glee in his stomach.

* * *

After theatrically robbing the Hokage with his stomach and ramen; Naruto happily went to training. In his head he calculated that if he used only 7 clones then he could compress a week's worth of training into a day

However he could make a lot more clones…the only question was how much and what was the limit to this right now. Against Mizuki and using the Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu; Naruto managed to make over a thousand Shadow Clones or more (he wasn't really counting) at once and that was with his abysmal Chakra Control.

But with only the Shadow Clone Jutsu he was limited to around 20 the last time he checked when he sparred against Kakashi; not that he was his sensei yet.

Going to his own personal training field which was a small space in the deeper end of the forest where no one goes to, Naruto crossed his fingers and pulled out as much Chakra as possible; the same amount when he faced Kakashi while channelling it into his Jutsu shouting, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

In an instant, a full force of 40 Shadow Clones appeared around him as he grinned seeing his Chakra Control training was paying off.

Some Loops ago it would have taken him twice the effort to do this. With this amount Naruto didn't need to bother with the Multi-Shadow Clone since he was capable of making over a thousand Shadow Clones at once.

That was overkill for Naruto and he still remembered that each Clone had barely enough Chakra to last for a few minutes let alone hours of training.

Looking at his 40 Shadow Clones he suddenly pumped his fist out and shouted, "Right! Half of you will train with Chakra Control! Get a leaf and start practising!"

"YOSH!" a full 20 Shadow Clones of Naruto shouted at once while charging at trees to pick off leaves to start the Leaf Exercise and the variants that Naruto knew.

The second 20 Shadow Clones waited as Naruto then shouted to them, "The rest of you are with me. Half of you guys will practise throwing and your accuracy while the other half will practise our Kata."

10 of the Shadow Clones went to a line of trees and started to throw Kunai and Shurikens while the rest groaned at the thought of using the Academy Style Katas which in his opinion was boring and wasn't flashy enough.

"Oh shut it. You're all me and I know I hate the Academy Style Katas but they help us learn a better Taijusu later" he said to his clones which was strange…since they were him.

It was that kind of encouragement that allowed those Shadow Clones to get started at least.

With that done, Naruto was alone with his Shadow Clones practising wondering what he; as he original should do now.

Practising Taijutsu was fine to a certain extent but his Shadow Clones was doing that already. Physical Conditioning was out of the window as long as he was bothered to keep up with his training.

He could research new ways of increasing his Chakra Control but his clearance wasn't high enough or something even as a Genin to be allowed access to the damn Genin section of the Library. Did those ninjas know that he still had to pass another test to really be a Ninja?

That was the most likely answer else it was because he forgot to register as one that time…

Genjutsu was out of the window since he had no one to practise with.

Ninjutsu…he had no idea how to train that.

Sure he could work on taking less Chakra on using them or more speed in executing them but what was the point?

Those two jutsus he had weren't that good at all compared to the flashy Jutsus he had seen ANBU used when he spied on some training that one time and barely didn't get caught.

Hmm…he would need to ask Iruka on the purpose of the Basic Three they taught during the Academy.

* * *

 **A/N:**

I was on a split where Naruto did not know about how Shadow Clones worked until a lot later but I just placed it there since it fit with Naruto wanting to learn more about what he got.

Also while I found it funny that the Third NEVER seemed to know the true use of Shadow Clones (Paperwork) and the many reasons why, making it forbidden to use it with Shadow Clones is actually close to Canon as far as I'm concern.

I mean why would else would Hokage Naruto not use it for his paperwork so he could go to his daughter's birthday party? Seriously you have the guy who SPAMS Shadow Clones not using it for his paperwork?!

Yeah, there is a real reason why it banned as well. Since the Nidaime Hokage was the one who developed Shadow Clones and I remembered a fic where the Nidaime hinted at its 'true purpose', it would also be ironic that the mental backlash caused by the Jutsu would cause them to forget which paperwork they did (With Shadow Clones) and which one they didn't.


	9. Chapter 8 - The Basic Three

**Chapter 8: The Basic Three**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

"You want to know more about the Basic Three Ninjutsu we use?" asked Iruka in some disbelief that Naruto of all people would ask this.

A had been a day or two since 'that' incident but Naruto was already showing a lot more maturity in that short amount of time.

Iruka knew of Naruto's burden and also how his Chakra levels were higher than they should which meant his Chakra Control was horrible; not that he didn't try to correct it several times in the past.

The boy refused any kind of Chakra Control training since it was too 'boring' for him.

For Naruto to show interest and wanting to improve himself moved Iruka by a good margin as he called up information about the Basic Three Ninjutsus that Konoha Shinobi learn and use first. With a smile, Iruka asked Naruto, "First tell me what you know about the Basic Three so I can fill in the gaps."

Naruto agreed and started to speak saying, "The Basic Three are the most Basic Ninjutsu that a ninja can have and also covers the most vital areas that a ninjas need to be capable of doing. The Transformation Jutsu allows you to change your appearance and follows the creed of distraction. The Substitution Jutsu allows you to quickly escape from an attack using another object as cover and follows the creed of escape. Finally the Clone Jutsu allows you to make hollow copies of yourself with only the appearance and no form and follows the creed of deception."

Naruto basically repeated the lecture that Iruka gave him before when he asked about the Ninjutsu he should work on.

He felt some glee in the look of astonishment that Iruka was having right now.

Opening and closing his mouth several times in shock he let out, "Okay…you know a lot about them so why do you need me for?" with a sigh. There was really not much else he could teach Naruto if he knows all of this.

"I want to know more" Naruto stated bluntly, "I know what they do but how to use them is different. Plus I still don't know the use of the Clone Jutsu when the Shadow Clone Jutsu is way better."

Iruka sighed and rubbed his forehead, this was going to be a long lecture. But as a teacher, he was determined enough to explain to Naruto about the use of the Basic Three. It was actually surprising how many don't use them despite their advantages.

"Well…the greatest use of the Basic Three is that they don't use that much Chakra and require less control compared to other Jutsus" he explained, "Since all of them are E rank jutsus this is expected. While the Jutsus may be weak in many eyes, when used correctly they are as strong as higher ranked Jutsus and cost way less to use them. The Tranformation Jutsu is actually a toned down version of a Genjutsu that can cover any object's true appearance. Because it is limited to only yourself it counts as a Ninjutsu."

"I don't need to say how useful the Transformation Jutsu is considering how often you use it for pranks right?" Iruka asked.

Naruto laughed a little embarrassed at the praise though it wasn't really him praising him at the same time. It felt good for Iruka to acknowledge his abilities a bit.

"Anyway you can distract enemies with the Transformation Jutsu. A good example of this is actually your Sexy Jutsu (He doesn't know about the Harem Jutsu) which either causes males and females to be shocked in a different way" Iruka turned to Naruto and added, "Don't use the Jutsu in front of Kunoichis if you value your life."

Naruto nodded grimly remembering how those perverts who peeked were beaten to near death for their actions.

While Naruto peeked himself, it was for research to make the Sexy Jutsu.

"Next is the Substitution Jutsu which replaces yourself with another object quickly to avoid an attack and possible counter-attack in that moment" Iruka said, "This Jutsu is really useful to have though it uses more Chakra than the other two Jutsus. I don't have to say anything of how a person will react if they suddenly hit a log out of nowhere or in some cases dangerous objects."

Naruto thought about it and then spoke up asking, "What about other people?"

Iruka thought about it and said, "It is…possible but doing so is a lot harder and even more so with a person with a lot of Chakra."

"Then my Shadow Clones?" Naruto asked next. He bet the person hitting him would be even more shocked when he thought they hit a clone instead of him out of nowhere when they thought he was the real one.

"Maybe, I don't know since no one really tested it out" Iruka explained which was all that Naruto needed to know to experiment with using Substitution with Shadow Clones just like Transformation with Shadow Clones.

Then Naruto frowned thinking of the two Jutsus. Iruka said that the Substitution Jutsu took the most Chakra of the Basic Three but whenever he used the Transformation Jutsu, it took loads of Chakra to use.

"Ne, Iruka-sensei. Does the Transformation Jutsu use more Chakra than the Substitution Jutsu?" he asked to which Iruka answered, "No, it actually takes less Chakra than the Clone Jutsu."

It was then that Naruto figured something was wrong. He couldn't use the Clone Jutsu since his Chakra levels compared to his Chakra Control was too high. If the Transformation Jutsu took less Chakra than the Clone Jutsu of all thing then why could he use it and have it cost more?

"Then why does the Transformation Jutsu cost more to use to me than both the Substitution Jutsu and damn Clone Jutsu?" he asked his teacher.

"Hmm…perhaps you are not doing the Jutsu properly or you are doing something to make the Chakra Cost of the Jutsu to rise" Iruka answered and then prompting Naruto to use the Jutsu in front of him, "Try using he Jutsu and I'll and pick out what's different about it. Transform into me…and nothing else" he said with a blush on his face.

Naruto nodded, gathered Chakra and made the hand-seals and shouted, "Transformation Jutsu!"

Poof!

With a flash of smoke Naruto turned into a copy of Iruka who started to observe Naruto to see if there were any differences to him. However Iruka found none and was confused about this.

What about his movements then?

"Naruto, walk from one end of the room to the other" he instructed and Naruto shrugged before doing so. Iruka watched as a copy of himself did so and found that it was done perfectly without any desynchrony with Naruto and the illusion.

'Wait not desynchrony? No difference at all?' he thought before suddenly touching the person in front of him. The copy of himself flinched before saying, "What gives Iruka-sensei?!" but Iruka wasn't paying attention to Naruto right now.

Right now he was _touching_ Naruto. As in he was touching the physical copy made by the Transformation Jutsu. This was not an illusion…this was real and solid. This was definitely not the Transformation Jutsu at all!

"Naruto…" Iruka looked at Naruto who just dispelled the Jutsu with some awe. There were a couple of jutsus whose ideas would become revolutionary but never actually became a thing due to the sheer impossibility of achieving it.

The True Transformation Jutsu which physically altered the body was one of them.

"Iruka-sesei…." Iruka looked down to see Naruto with a worried look as he asked, "Am I not supposed to do it like that? What am I doing wrong?"

Iruka quickly shook his head having a hard time understanding how to explain it to him…and later Hokage-sama about this. What was the reason for Naruto being capable of this while…too many failed. Iruka frowned at the one possibility he saw which was the Kyuubi.

"Naruto I want you to understand that you did nothing wrong" he said, "The Transformation you did not only created a shell but also made it physical."

Iruka took a moment to see Naruto gulp.

"Because of this the Transformation Jutsu you did was not an E rank jutsu but rather an A or even S rank jutsu which is one of the most prized thing that all Ninjas want to do. Literally turn into someone else at will."

"But it's just a Transformation! And it takes a tone of Chakra to do!" Naruto exclaimed not understanding fully on why _his_ Transformation Jutsu was so different. He saw Iruka shake his head before saying, "Naruto. With this jutsu you will be capable of getting anywhere. Since you physically change and your Transformation isn't an illusion, it cannot be detected at all even by ANBU. Hell I won't be surprised if you manage to Transform into inanimate objects with this Jutsu like weapons."

Naruto gapped at the sheer possibility of the Jutsu. He had remembered using the Jutsu to turn into a potted plant that one time so he knew he could do that but for him to not get caught even by ANBU?

However things seemed to have side tracked and he wanted to get as much information as possible from Iruka about the Basic Three or in his case; The Not Transformation Jutsu, Substitution Jutsu and the Clone Jutsu.

"Iruka-sensei…can you explain more about the Clone Jutsu first?" he asked taking Iruka out of his musing.

Without thinking much about it which was really a calling to how good he was at teaching Iruka started to explain about the Clone Jutsu, "The Clone jutsu is another Ninjutsu that resembles a Genjutsu like the Transformation Jutsu. It creates a copy of yourself which can use basic motor functions like moving but they do not have an actual form. Due to this, it has a low Chakra cost in casting it but the most it can do are in the form of distractions since there are many ways in telling that they are fake."

"Such as?" Naruto asked.

"The first is that anything can pass through them like leaves or dust. The second is that they don't cast a Shadow on the ground since they're not real. And third is that they don't have weight so you won't see any footprints with the clones. Any experienced Ninja will know the difference one way or another like how the Inuzuki Clan can tell by smell or how the Hyuga Clan with their Byakugan which can see Chakra" Iruka explained which Naruto absorbed.

Now he was sure that the Shadow Clone Jutsu was way better.

From what he could tell with them, his Jutsu didn't have any of the weaknesses that the Clone Jutsu had…but they were actually solid and could get hit.

It would be great if he could use the Clone Jutsu…his Chakra Control was too bad for that. He could mix up Clones with Shadow Clones together to confuse people in thinking what was real and fake.

With that done asked the next thing he wanted in mind.

"Iruka-sensei is there any way on improving the use of a jutsu?" he asked.

Forgetting about the fact that Naruto could use a True Transformation Jutsu for a moment, Iruka immediately answered, "There are a couple of ways in fact. The first and easiest way is the speed in execution of the Jutsu as well as lowering the amount of Chakra needed for said Jutsu as well. Another way for some Jutsu is to make it less apparent that its being used like the smoke in Transforming or making a Clone. But the most key factor would be reducing the number of hand-seals needed for a Jutsu which at minimum would become seal-less."

Naruto nodded and with that, he had what he wanted to know about. Now he knew what he was going to train in at least for the Pre-Genin test that Kakashi would give them.

Quickly moving back to his personal training grounds, he saw that the Shadow Clones were still training hard and that it had been a few hours since he created them. Shouting loudly he said, "Right! New plan here, dispel first to give me all the experience you got!"

Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!...

All of a sudden the moment the Clones dispel themselves from existence, his mind was bombarded with information and most importantly experiences that the clones had while they were created and training while he was with Iruka.

He learnt of some new methods of bringing his Chakra Control up with leaves and how to get more than one leaf to stick on him with the Clones.

His aim was adjusted slightly so that it was more accurate and that he could throw faster than before by a split second. And his Taijutsu had some adjustment so that his body's muscle memory was more suited to the Academy Style of Taijutsu than before.

While this made him happy; Naruto would be even more happy with the new training he would start and would be completed a number of Time Loops later.

"Let's do this!"

* * *

 _Checkpoint 2: Loop 28 End (Total Loops: 31)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

In many Fics, the Basic Three were heavily overlooked, hell even the Canon did despite that they were some of the most basic moves Konoha Shinobi had. And there is the difference between the Transformation Jutsu that Naruto uses and what the other Shinobi may or may not have used, at least according to a good deal of Fics.

Basically it comes to whether said Jutsu transforms the person physically or with an illusion.

The Transformation Jutsu is an E-rank Jutsu.

So there is a pretty good reason on why some people would think that it wouldn't be an _physical_ changing Jutsu in the most literal sense and instead call it an illusion like the Clone Jutsu which is also classified as a Ninjustu but acts more like a Genjutsu.

Therefore I'm looking at it more as a Genjutsu low enough to be an Ninjutsu than anything else.

Aside from discrepancies, such a convenience Jutsu cannot exist for the lower ranks if it really _did_ change someone's appearance physically to such an extent they could turn into objects so much smaller than they really were. If it did then the Jutsu should really be a lot higher ranked than a mere E-rank which Academy Students can do.

Really, there was a bloody movie with a guy who actually could Transform perfectly into another, but that's not Canon like almost all other Naruto movies.

Then there is the issue where apparently you could turn into inanimate objects, how does that work if that's actually physical changing and not an illusion? Lots and **lots** of problems there on how _that_ works if it actually changes someone's physical appearance into an inanimate one.

Well apparently there are Jutsus that does change a being's appearance physically. The Beast Human Clone is one that Kiba and Akamaru uses, the Transformation the Monkey King Enma uses to turn into an Adamantine Staff is another.

But seriously, other than those examples, only Naruto used the Transformation Jutsu in a fight...ever. And that's against Zabuza and against Pein. Not much use but its meant to be used in infiltration and such...but so was Shadow Clones ironically.

But yeah, it changed your physical appearance and is easily taught to every Academy Student that manages to get to their last year.

Basically think about this, you have...66% of graduates from the Academy failing to be a true Genin and some even dropping out of the system but still retaining the ability to use Chakra (even if its a low amount) and the ability to Transform physically into anything you _want_.

Suddenly you decide to leave Konoha and become a civilian completely aways from all those ninjas but yet _you_ still have the ability to use Chakra among those who don't know how to and were never taught to.

And they had no reason to suspect something was wrong.

I can literally think of a dozen ways this can turn out bad for Konoha and the other Shinobi Villages if the Transformation Jutsu actually did allow someone to transform physically instead of casting an illusion over oneself.

Seriously why would Jiraiya bother to peek if he could just Transform into a woman and enter the female side of the hot-spring just like that, one would presume a Sannin would have mastered such a thing no matter what.

But yeah, this became a rant...

But still, I think the Fanfics out there got it right in that the Transformation Jutsu simply cast an illusion over a person.

Too many problems if it didn't and that just makes Naruto a bit more unique if he managed to create one or accidentally use a higher version of the Transformation Jutsu that actually _did_ physically Transform someone into another.


	10. Chapter 9 - Results of New Training

**Chapter 9: Results of New Training**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Almost 25 Loops passed by or around half a year passed by for Naruto as he spent all of that time training on his own making sure that any of his weaknesses were slowly disappearing with time and training.

Right now he was wearing a set of near black with some orange flames at the bottom jacket with a hood over a black shirt and pants. The spiral symbol was red on the back of his shirt and jacket as well making him looked quite cool.

If you compared him now to the one before, he was completely different in appearances and attitude.

The training helped a lot with his attitude and patient and while he was still prone to outburst, he was more quiet and observing of everything.

With the hood on and his headband on his neck rather than forehead; most people and pretty much any civilians couldn't tell it was him. They were too used to the orange neon suit and him shouting at everything.

Naruto chuckled at the looks he got from some people when they found out it was him; not that he really cared their expressions were too funny.

'Now that I think about it, it has been almost a year since this Time Loop thing started' he thought.

A year in total had passed and he went from literally being dead last to being someone at the Genin level. He was definitely not ready to be a Ninja a year ago without the training and he shivered and what could have happened if he did.

In all he guided himself as the following now.

Ninjutsu: Genin (Exception of Shadow Clones)

Taijutsu: Low Genin

Genjutsu: Academy Student

Chakra Capacity: High Jonin

Chakra Control: Low Genin

Weapon Throwing Aim: Low Genin

Stealth: High Chunin (High Genin in neon orange)

Trapping/Wiring: Chunin

Since he didn't train his Stealth and Tapping/Wiring skills, they haven't really increased but he didn't want them to decline so once in a while Naruto trained them by the one thing he was best at. Pranking.

He did a redo of painting the Hokage Faces and this time no one suspected anything until it was too late with him gone from the scene quickly.

It was funny how no one could find him when he didn't shout out that he did it.

"Kinda makes me want to redo all of my failed pranks to see which one would have worked now than before" he thought aloud.

On the other end of the village, an aged Hokage shivered uncontrollably at the possibility of more paperwork with that idea.

Ninjutsu wise, while he didn't learn anything new, he refined what he had right now. With more proficiency the Transformation, Substitution and Shadow Clone Jutsu were much easier to execute with him taking only a second for each compared to a few seconds to build up Chakra to use.

He didn't know how he managed to use the Substitution Jutsu before when it took him a good 1-3 seconds to prepare for the jutsu.

"Good thing my execution of the Jutsu is more reliable" he commented, "Can't have me take a free hit because I suck at using the Jutsu."

Furthermore the number of Hand-seals for both the Transformation and Substitution Jutsu decreased thankfully.

His Transformation Jutsu originally took 3 Hand-seals was now decreased to a single hand-seal needed which was a great improvement. The Substitution Jutsu required 5 Hand-seals which was a lot for a Jutsu to escape from danger was now decreased to 3 Hand-seals.

"Things are so much easier with me not remembering all of those hand-seals, urg!" he commented again. Naruto did not have the best memory but with lots of reading and more thinking came more memory retainment.

Since the Shadow Clone Jutsu took one unique Hand-seal there was no difference there.

Plus Naruto managed to somehow decrease the amount of smoke that each Jutsu creates or in some cases increase it.

He found out that the smoke was actually Chakra residue from lots and lots of reading on why some Jutsu causes smoke when used. The less residue, the less smoke and no smoke along with Seal-less execution meant mastering the Jutsu to its limits.

Thanks to this fact, Naruto now had an near infinite supply of Smoke Bombs at hand with his Clones being created or dispelling releasing smoke when either happened and he willed it.

"I bet Kakashi-sensei would be super surprised when he's covered in smoke and can't see anything" he chuckled at the thought of doing that.

Taijutsu wise, Naruto could not say with confidences from Iruka when he used the man to judge his abilities that he was Low Genin level there with the Academy Style.

While normally his Taijutsu would stay at the Academy Student level; Naruto made adjustments to it making it a bit quicker and more forceful.

Combining this with his Shadow Clones, Naruto managed to make a new style (Else he didn't know there wasn't a style based around using large amounts of Shadow Clones) that allowed him to weave his Clones in and out while attacking.

Mixing in his aim which was now also at Low Genin level (7-8/10 aim), it made it difficult for the target to even counter attack.

It took him some time to get his timing right and not accidentally hitting his own clones…or himself for that matter.

Now if only he could get the Clone Jutsu right so he could get false hits in as well…

"Well we can't have everything immediately…I have to work on my Chakra Control for that" he muttered to himself.

He knew that with enough time he would get the results. Hell his nonexistence Genjutsu skills went up to the Academy Student level which was him managing to detect Genjutsu to begin with.

Until he got his skills in Genjutsu to Genin level or his Chakra Control high enough he would have to resort to pain to break out of Genjutsu.

"And speaking of Chakra…" Naruto sighed thinking about it.

Before he remembered that his Spiritual energy was a lot lower than his physical energy which made it hard for him to learn any kind of Genjutsu which they were Spiritual or Yin based.

With him…reading and generally thinking of new ways to train and get stronger that energy increased compared to before and while in no way even a quarter the size of his physical or Yang Chakra; it increased. And with it, his Chakra Reserves which in one word was troublesome.

While his Chakra Control was now considered Low Genin level compared to his reserves; his actual Chakra Reserves increased to High Jonin level!

Naruto bet by the time he managed to increase his Chakra Control to Chunin Level his Chakra Reserves would increase to Elite Jonin levels or even to Kage level if he was unlucky enough.

He was pretty sure that he had enough Yang Chakra to compare to a Kage and when his Yin Chakra caught up…

Yeah; he needed more Chakra Control exercises to fix that.

The Leaf Exercise was really only meant for the average Academy Student who had little control as well as little chakra reserves at the same time allowing both to grow at a steady rate.

Him who had little to no control and stupidly large chakra reserves at the same time would take a hell lot more effort to increase it.

He even went as far as well as to float the damn leaf, spin it and move it from parts of his body to increase his control over his chakra and in a year he just managed to get his chakra control to low Genin level.

If his Chakra was water, than his Chakra Control was filled with small pipes in a large dam trying to control the flow of water going through which was being strained heavily.

The pipes or in this case his Chakra Control exercise was too small and used too little Chakra for him to use large amounts of Chakra without losing control over it.

He was sure that there were better methods but he could never find a way to get Iruka-sensei from teaching him or anyone else…or even the library which he needed access to the Genin section which wasn't allowed.

Stealing a person's ID and appearance for a bit didn't work since they checked…somehow.

He didn't know but they did and he was caught because of that. He had to answer to Hokage-jiji about that which was super awkward until he said that he wanted to learn more now that he was a ninja which resulted in him being told to wait a week to be assigned to a team first.

Because of that his training was now limited by the fact that knowledge; key knowledge was being kept from him.

There were a number of things that he wanted to learn like Kenjutsu since he heard someone say that they looked really cool or even Fuinjutsu which he also heard someone say was difficult but powerful.

Due to this fact, Naruto decided it was time for him to pass the Genin test that Kakashi would give and make sure that he knew that they were working together with a high amount of teamwork.

Plus he trained as much as he could conditioning his body so when the next checkpoint happened, he would start off stronger than before.

Walking to the Academy he entered the room and heard the room fall silent. Frowning since he never got this kind of reaction before.

"What's going on? Why all the silence?" he asked pondering what on earth made them shut up.

After a few second of the room and his classmates getting the fact that he was Naruto and no one else; Shikimaru was the first to rise up to say something.

"Well I believe everyone is shocked about your appearance as much as it is a drag. Plus how did you pass?" he yawned before shutting his eyes again.

Typical Nara and their need to sleep. He simply raised an eyebrow for a moment to this.

"Headband means I'm a ninja. I did a make-up test since I can do something better than the Clone Jutsu" he quickly answered the question that was on everyone's mind.

Next in line to speak or rather bark was Kiba saying, "Yeah yeah who cares if a loser like you pass. What the hell is up with your appearance dead last?!"

"Akamaru please keep your pet in line. He may need to be put down if he keeps this up" Naruto said seriously to the white puppy in Kiba's jacket.

Luckily enough Akamaru knew humour and barked with a couple of other guys laughing as well.

But Naruto sighed thinking of how before he was really dead last.

Now he was sure that he could at least be in the upper half of the class though he never tested how strong they were.

"Honestly can't a guy change his appearance without the whole class being speechless and such?" he rhetorically asked Kiba and the rest of the class at once.

There was much sarcasm in his tone that only some of his classmates seemed to get.

Unfortunately Kiba wasn't one of them.

"Yes!" he shouted, "What the hell are you doing showing up looking all cool and such!"

Sakura…she didn't seem that close to him with a full year of him not pursuing her anymore.

Funny how time literally made his crush on her disappear. Plus with the Time Loop any relationship he would have with her will disappear quickly.

She was the next to say something about his appearance shrieking out, "Yeah! Stop trying to act like Sasuke-kun!"

"I act like an emo who has a large stick my ass now?" Naruto asked 'innocently' while tilting his head and widening his eyes a bit to pay the 'innocent' card a bit more.

He thought he heard someone collapse near the back of the room for some reason before the fan-girls started shouting at him at once.

"Shut up dead last!"

"Take that back!"

"Don't you dare talk to Sasuke-kun like that!"

As such were the comments and shrieks that he managed to get out. It took a full 5 minutes for their insults and scream to stop which made Naruto quite glad that practically the majority of them would fail the extra exams by the Jonin.

He was sure Sakura would pass…Ino as well since she was with Shikimaru and Choji. Hinata would as well since she seemed competent enough with Kiba and Shino. That's a total of nine of them including himself out of everyone here.

Quite a low ratio indeed.

Ignoring everything else, Naruto went through the team selection being placed with Sasuke and Sakura again.

When everyone else left and an hour passed, it was time to act. He brought his pranking gear for this after all.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well this is near the end of the current 'checkpoint' of the series.

This Chapter is just a rehash of what happened off-screen since I rather not have described every last bit of training that Naruto did. There's nothing much to say here...

Hmm...

Might as well asked, What's your opinion on this 'Boruto' manga series?


	11. Chapter 10 - Pranking the Test

**Chapter 10: Pranking the Test**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

"Naruto what are you doing?" asked Sakura as he placed the most basic part of the prank in place.

The eraser stuck between the wall and sliding door. This was the distraction.

"Pranking our teacher" he said naturally. He then took some Nina wire and trapped the bottom of the door to trigger the number of soft fruit that would be fling at the door when it opens.

It took him a minute to set this up quickly.

"Naruto-baka! You shouldn't do that!" Sakura shrieked again.

"Hn. Our teacher is a Jonin, Elite of the Village. A trap like that will never work" Sasuke stated which made Sakura swoon at him…again. Exactly the same as well which caused Naruto to sigh at their behaviour which didn't change at all.

Naruto then got a good thought and said to both of them, "Then help me make this a trap that can catch a Jonin. I bet it will score good if we manage it."

"Shut up Baka! Are you trying to get us kicked out of being a Ninja already?!" she screamed at him and then went to hit him. Instincts moving before his mind kicked in, Naruto dodged the strike; which while was strong as predictable and slow and then kicked the back of her knee in one go.

Sakura fell to the ground; holding the place he kicked and shouted, "Ow!" with some tears already coming out of her eyes.

'What the hell did I see in this person?' he asked himself, 'She's so…weak. Weaker than the me when this all started as well.'

Naruto turned to look at Sasuke who didn't really care much aside from Naruto moving a bit faster and precise than he remembered. Raising an eyebrow to the Teme; Naruto asked, "You going to help me?"

"Hn."

Sasuke-teme looked away as if there was nothing interesting enough for him to pay attention to. Naruto simply sighed ignoring the cries of Sakura trying to get Sasuke to pity him and went to add onto his trap for Kakashi.

* * *

2 Hours later, the door slid open on the one eyed, masked Jonin appeared.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

All at once along with the eraser falling, fruit were flung at the Jonin, a bucket of water which was suspended into the air was tilted to drop water down at him and several pellets of stink bombs were thrown at him at the same time.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Naruto and his team-mates looked to see that the Jonin was hit on every count…until his figure turned into a log and he appeared at the front of the room as if there was nothing wrong at all and he was just attacked.

With a lazy gaze Kakashi looked at him and said, "Not a bad trap. While not good enough against Jonin, most Chunin will fall for that. Meet me on the roof in 5 minutes."

With that, the Jonin disappeared in a puff of smoke before Sakura could make her excuse and Sasuke to…not really do anything.

* * *

After the introduction session which went more or less the same; Naruto didn't bother to change anything he said the first time since that was still his goal; he proceeded to the place which he remembered all those Time Loops ago as the training grounds in which they were going to be tested in.

He had already since the week started stocked up one some food which was much cheaper when he was under his Transformation at his apartment which now had a new lock and some traps in place for those who would dare try to break and enter.

"Let's see….what is a good place to set up traps" he wondered.

He remembered the times he tested out his Taijutsu style which he needed to name on Kakashi with Shadow Clones weaving in and out and with the rest throwing in Kunai and Shurikens precisely.

It wasn't enough against the Jonin and that was due to his speed, power and limited Ninjutsu list which numbered to 3; maybe 5 if you include his distraction Jutsus.

"Now that I think about it; Kakashi reads that perverted book…the Sexy or Harem Jutsu may work" he muttered to himself while bringing out some wires, paint, stink bombs and Kunai.

He was going either all hindrance or lethal on the man this time to get that bell.

Hopefully he could convince Sakura or Sasuke to cooperate with him even by saying that the bells are theirs if they want…Sakura might but the Teme won't until it's too late.

With a sigh Naruto figured he just needed to deal with it in the end.

"Now…should I trap the forest as well or not…?" he wondered before shrugging. It was their fault if they got caught in it especially if he warned them.

* * *

The next day Naruto made sure to eat a filling meal before he headed out to the training field which Kakashi booked for them.

He also made sure to get something for the other two to eat…even though they were fruit it wasn't like they were going to deny it if it was _that_ little in total. Kakashi was right in that if they ate a full meal; they would throw it up…he knew that from personal experience.

Upon arriving at the training field; he saw that Sakura and Sasuke were already there. His mind was too tired and tense to bother with honorifics in his mind for now.

"Hey, looks like you two are early" he casually said to the two as he took his place at one of the logs next to Sakura.

Looking at the time, he was technically on time but he suspected the Kakashi-sensei would show up three hours later again.

"Yeah…." Sakura sleepishly replied to him while Sasuke merely let out a, "Hn" which really could mean anything.

He didn't exactly learn how to interoperate the sounds that come out of his mouth. Plus there was no 'kiss' incident in this Loop as well and he would like to keep it like that.

Seeing there was really nothing else to do, Naruto decided to mediate a bit to see his energies flowing around his body. It was actually quite interesting on how his Chakra influences his body to the point that it sustains it more than a normal body.

The second reason why his Chakra reserves shot up to High Jonin levels was that his body did not need to use Chakra to sustain his body to its minimum capacity due to malnutrition or more generally a lack of food to begin with.

Naruto was quite interested in how both his spiritual and physical energies interact with other and combine.

It was an insightful thing to see and made Naruto understand more about Chakra in general. His insight was to the point that sometimes, he was able to tell how much Chakra was left in his body or how much Chakra he just used in a jutsu.

Whatever Sakura and Sasuke thought about him mediating or even just staying quiet; they did not comment and eventually after an hour and half passed; Naruto heard grumbling from both of their stomachs.

In particular from Sakura's who he knew didn't even get dinner last night.

With a sigh Naruto went through his backpack and took out a few apples and threw them a the two with the command, "Eat."

Naruto enjoyed the looks the two gave him. Sakura had the whole look of shock face on with her eyes and mouth in a perfect O shape as well. The Teme however raised his eyebrow questioning him with his gaze that wanted answers.

"Hurry up and eat. You need the energy for the test and I don't think Kakashi wanted you two to starve to death during the test itself" he commented.

"What do you know about the test?! You'll probably fail us because of this!" Sakura shrieked at him before trying to attack him…again.

Smoothly dodging the attack, Naruto snatched the apple from her hand and took a bite in it before allowing her to trip over onto the ground without mercy.

Looking at Sasuke who still had a questioning look at him; he said, "What? Since she wants to starve to death, no need to pull the rest of us down with her."

"Hn."

And so Sasuke actually agreed with him for the first time ever. There were some things that seemed to surprise him once in a while even with the Time Loops going on.

* * *

"Before we begin" said Naruto, "I have to say that I trapped the entire forest around us so be careful if a couple dozen weapons are shot at you or you step into a pitfall trap."

"…."

Three people dumbfounded looked at Naruto who just told them of the traps.

Kakashi in particular knew of what the blonde boy did since he spied on him when he was setting up the traps but even he didn't believe that Naruto would just tell the other two about them.

"What?"

Naruto looked around to see the same exact expression on everyone's faces; even Kakashi who had a mask on had the same expression strangely.

"I'm tell you since I don't want you two" he pointed at the pinked haired…girl(?) and the duck butt boy, "To fall for any of the traps there unexpectedly and blame it on me."

* * *

"Teme we need to work together" said a Naruto Clone to the surprised Uchiha in the forest.

Right now he was watching his original still get his ass kicked by the Jonin who was casually dodging and blocking attacks from all angles.

Hell it was like he could tell where he was going to attack before he did.

The Clone pointed at the scene and said, "Sensei is messing with my original and he's not even trying! I don't have any long range attacks aside from throwing Kunai and Shurikens and I heard you can do the Grand Fireball Jutsu."

"Hn, what's in it for me?" The Teme asked with a scowl though the clone could tell that the tactics that Original Naruto was using was a bit impressive with Clones being constantly made to attack with other Clones in an outer circle throwing weapons and the Clones themselves using the Transformation Jutsu and Substitution Jutsu to change things up.

And it wasn't even working at all. All Sasuke could think of was, 'So this is the difference between a Genin and Jonin. He's playing with the Dobe and from the beginning as well!'

It was at that exact moment that Sasuke figured part of the hidden message inside of the test. There was no way on beating the Jonin alone so you needed someone else to help you!

'This might be my chance to get a bell, I can just use the Dobe as a distraction to snatch it away when that Jonin isn't paying attention to me' he thought with a smirk not even considering that it was about 'Teamwork' that was the true purpose of the test.

But before the Uchiha could agree or disagree a certain shriek resounded all over the training grounds stopping everyone.

"KKKKYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The Clone sweat-dropped thinking, 'And I even told her about the traps…'

It took a few more moment for Sasuke to compose himself and ignore the pain in his ears before saying, "I'm in as long as I get a bell."

The Clone nodded and said, "Right, I'll make a…big distraction and you will go in with the kill with that Fireball of yours. That will force Sensei to dodge or do something which will be the perfect time to snatch those bells. Oh and make sure you get Sakura in this as well. The more people the better for this plan even if I can split myself into several dozen people at a time" before dispelling with a poof.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was impressed at least of this team.

More impressed compared to all the other teams that he had tested and failed. His team consisted of a pink haired fangirl with no strengths except for a loud voice, a raven haired emo avenger and a somewhat…unpredictable blonde haired boy.

The third seemed to have changed dramatically in the last week since the incident involving the Scroll of Sealing and the Traitor Mizuki.

He supposed that such trauma which included someone you trusted betraying you and revealing the reason why most of the village hates you would change a person.

It saddened the former ANBU that he was not able to help Naruto except by in the Shadows and some gifts on his birthday. He had expected to be faced with…frankly an idiot that would just charge in at him and be beaten up by him.

He was right on one account.

Naruto did face him head on but he didn't expect that he would immediately use the Shadow Clone Jutsu and started controlling his movements through them and the traps around the field which he knew were there.

Furthermore while Kakashi could not exactly attack back without harming the boy too much due to this, he wasn't able to counter attack and kept with looking as if he was playing with him.

What he did not expect was Naruto being able to convince his team-mates into cooperating with him to steal the bells.

Sasuke, the Last Uchiha, the last _loyal_ Uchiha to the village threw a fireball as some of Naruto's clones grabbed onto him and tried to pin him there. A simple Substitution Jutsu with one of Naruto's Clones foiled that plan. The Naruto clones immediately reacted and continued to attack with himself dodging again.

But then Sakura of all people attacked him throwing Kunai where he leaped.

Sasuke went up to snatch a bell but he managed to stop him and Sakura who did the same just a moment later.

In the end, through those distractions Naruto managed to steal both the bells though Kakashi let him for the final test.

"So who are you going to choose as your team-mate and who will be sent back to the Academy?" he asked.

Naruto simply grinned and said, "Both" before tossing both bells to them. Upon questioning the other two; they too seemed to have the same answer.

Therefore he could only say….

"You all….PASS!"

* * *

 _Loop 50 End. Checkpoint Gained. (Total time spent: 50 Weeks, 3 Days)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

To be honest, this was rather anti-climatic to me. There aren't many ways on making the Bell Test interesting since the purpose of the test is to show teamwork. Furthermore Kakashi is always holding back during these fights. I've only seen at most a handful of series that actually makes the fight interesting and that's due to the fights being over the top.

As for the actual fight scenes...I don't actually work well with them. They either become super long with super details all around or just...like this.

Anyway this Chapter is the last 'Short' one and the following chapters are all much longer in length (pretty much double the length).


	12. Chapter 11 - D-rank Missions

**Chapter 11: D-rank Missions**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto woke up and checked the date. It was currently Jan 2 on the date and it was the day after the Graduation test.

It was a week from then and the day after the team selection.

"WOHOO!" he shouted in joy, "Next checkpoint get!"

Naruto really didn't care about how loud he was since there was no one else living in his apartment.

Hell the area he was living was mostly deserted and wasn't one of the nicest place to live at all. But right now, all Naruto was thinking of was what he could learn now he was an 'official' Genin.

The Genin Section of the Library was now open to him.

But first he should learn what he could get out of his new Sensei of training. He knew the man was late and the reason why. One of the previous Loops he found the man standing in front of the stone monument for the three hours he was late.

He never questioned the man's action since it was private but one of these days he was going to find out why he was so late all the time. Well Naruto had other things to look at before he would drive into the privacy of his Sensei.

Right now it was 7 am and he had a team meeting at 9 am…which probably meant that Kakashi would appear at 12 or something like that; though it wouldn't look good if he was really late.

'That means I have two hours to do whatever I want…in that case'

"Shadow Clone Jutsu."

Poof.

Naruto made a couple of clones, no more than 5 and said, "Go to our personal training field and start practising Chakra Control, Aiming, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu of what we know. When you get there, make more clones."

The five clones nodded and ran out of his shitty apartment.

Now that he was at a checkpoint in this Time Loop; he should try to tidy this place up and fix it…he hadn't had hot water in years and the pumping sucked.

With a sigh, Naruto clothed himself in his new and now default look and went to the library to see what they had in terms of topics.

He even made sure he had a Transformation up when he entered so no one who knew about his new look knew it was him. Walking up to the next story up he once again found three doors.

The Genin and Chunin sections of the library seemed to be even in size.

The Jonin section was considerably smaller and the ANBU section wasn't even here but located in the ANBU headquarters.

Naruto dispel his Transformation and gave his ID to the Chunin guard to the Genin section. The Chunin section had two Chunin guards and an ANBU guarded the Jonin section of the library.

"Things seem to be in order" the Chunin said ignoring the fact it was _him_ and gave back his ID before saying, "You can't remove anything from this library but you can copy them to a scroll which you can remove. Make sure not to wreck anything; if you do then you'll be banned from the place for a while with a fine."

"Got it" he replied before entering.

Inside there were a couple of other Genin in there reading or copying a scroll for later. What he was here for was not for information exactly but information on other information. There were lots of topics which he could get into but he wanted to focus his abilities.

This meant A) To find stuff that would make him stronger in the areas he already knew and B) To find new potential things to practise.

'Hmm…seems there's a list of things sorted in this section' he thought walking up to the thing called an Index list that listed the name and locations of all the books in this section of the library. Reading down there were some things that caught his eye.

'Advance Chakra theory, Advance Chakra Control…there's a couple Taijutsu styles here as well though they are the basics of them…couple of low ranked Ninjutsu as well…Elemental affinities? What's that? There's also some Genjutsu here as well though I doubt that can use them. Doesn't seem to be anything about stealth and trapping/wiring here aside from what I know…there's also something about Kenjutsu; that might be worth spending time with and…Fuinjutsu? Sealing?'

At that last section Naruto frowned.

Sealing was something that wasn't covered in the Academy at all; all that he got was that there were only a few Seal Masters and the Yondaime Hokage was one of them. It was probably the reason why he was able to seal the Kyuubi which was a 10 story large Demon inside him who was an infant then.

'I should read that up..some of the basic stuff along with Kenjutsu. There seems to be a lot of them in the stories back at the Academy and it would be best if I knew what the guy was doing swinging a sword at him' he continued to think.

There were really a lot of areas he wanted to work with but at the same time he wanted to increase what he knew already to a higher level.

Kenjutsu seemed to be something that would take a lot of them learning their Kata but Fuinjutsu was something that he could retain Time Loop or not. Scribbles on paper and you would get the same effect even if his writing speed was a bit slow.

Therefore Naruto decided to learn Fuinjutsu on the passing.

Genjutsu was something Naruto wanted to learn but his Chakra Control was something that limited him heavily.

Due to this, Naruto was more than motivated to learn everything he could with Chakra Control which would evidently help him in Ninjutsu as well. Speaking of Ninjutsu; at this point Naruto really had 3 (5 including his originals) Ninjutsus and the stuff he saw were all minor at this point unlike the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Furthermore they were mostly about Elemental Jutsu which he needed to read on as well; most Ninjas used this kind of Jutsu.

Then there was his Taijutsu which needed to be upgraded into something better than a modified Academy Style mixed with Shadow Clones. His basics were solid enough to learn a new one but he had no idea what kind of Taijusu style would fit him.

Then, Naruto smirked thinking of a solution.

'Then why don't I learn them all? I mean with the Time Loop I have all the time to learn all of them to a certain extent. A master of all types of Taijutsu seems interesting' he thought.

But first, he would need to get his Chakra control up.

That was the most important thing after all.

* * *

Naruto using Clones pretty much read the books on Advance Chakra Theory and Advance Chakra Control which was in more detailed than the basic version of the books.

In the theory side, it detailed more of how Chakra was composed of spiritual and physical energies. It was something he already knew with Mediating but an outside source was good information either way.

He was far more interested on the book about Chakra Control which had two new exercises and a bunch of variants to increase it even more.

The first was called Tree Climbing which would allow you to stick on solid objects and the second was called Water Walking which would allow you to stand on liquid surfaces.

Plus he would be able to combine this with the Leaf Exercises he was doing to increase his control even more!

Hell there were some variants of the Leaf Exercises he had thought up before. Things like floating the leaf, spinning it or even moving it were included and Naruto could now add flipping the leaf, folding the leaf and shooting the leaf into the things he wanted to practise.

Unfortunately he needed to complete both Tree Climbing and Water Walking to gain enough control to try them.

His Chakra Control by the end of all of this would probably break into the Chunin level which was something he hoped for dearly.

"Yosh! Let's see what kind of training Kakashi-sensei gives us to get stronger Dattabayo" he said aloud while walking the Training ground 7.

Right now it was 10 am and he found that Sakura-san and Sasuke were already there.

Although Sasuke was the first to notice him, it was Sakura who responded shouting, "NARUTO-BAKA! YOU'RE LATE!"

Naruto waited for 3 seconds and could hear an echo of her voice; if not for the fact that it was directed to him, Naruto was impressed…though a part of his mind seem to shout that there were many things impressive about her.

"Is Kakashi-sensei here?" he asked her with a stern look to which Naruto saw how she got frustrated and moved him to attack him…again.

You would think she would have learnt after the first two times. Sasuke had no indication of even noticing what was happening as Naruto dodged the blow and tripped her again.

THUD.

After falling to the ground pitifully Sakura for reasons beyond him turned and wailed at Sasuke saying, "Sasuuuuke-kun!" before trying to grab him and most like cry on him or something. It was then that he seemed to care and moved away from Sakura immediately.

"Hn" Sasuke made a disgusted look her Sakura but she didn't seem to notice at all.

"Doooon't ruuuun awaaaay!" she cooed as she tried to catch him as Naruto tried not to laugh at the scene.

Now that his crush on her practically disappeared; if not only due to that she needlessly attacks him whenever she was in a bind; this was actually funny to him.

The Rookie of the Year, Uchiha Sasuke was running away from the Kunoichi of the Year, Haruna Sakura.

After 5 minutes of this, the Teme seemed to have temporary put aside his pride for a bit before looking at him with slightly pleading eyes and said, "Dobe" as Sakura continued to swoon to him in a more aggressive manner.

On one hand, he could do nothing and watch this play out. But on the other hand, he could stop Sakura; earn her ire and complaints and a bit of the Teme's respect.

Yeah, it was a clear winner here on which one he was going to do.

"Bad luck Teme" he said with a shrug, "If I do then both our eardrums will pop."

He let that message slide to him as Sasuke thought of something and said, "Hn. Help me and I'll give you a scroll the basics of Fire Jutsus."

Naruto frowned and raised an eyebrow to what the Teme just said. Those kinds of scrolls were common on Konoha so Naruto thought Sasuke was skimming him off. But at the same time there may be some differences between the one from the library and the one from Sasuke.

"Is there a difference between your one and the one I could get from the library? He asked which mad Sasuke raise his eyebrows in surprise. The dobe actually went to the library?

However Sakura in his moment of distraction was about to jump on him and then most likely rape him so he quickly dodged and shouted to the blonde haired boy who was watching this in more than enough amusement, "Yes! My Clan's scrolls are a lot more detailed."

Naruto got from rope out as he asked, "How detailed? I know most Fire Jutsu comes from the mouth…"

"Hn."

Seeing the last Uchiha in such a state from his most prominent fan-girl; Naruto took pity on him and moved in to tie Sakura up. It was sad that it was too easy to do so; she was like a civilian the way she froze up when he did.

"NARUTO-BAKA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" she shrieked seeing that it was him who did this.

"Sasuke, knock her out else she'll won't shut up and break our eardrums" he commanded his new team-mate. He swore that his level of hearing was already decreasing rapidly at this rate.

"Hn" Without more than a grunt Sasuke did though Sakura had a look of disbelief on her face while he was doing so.

Thankfully she collapsed easily after the chop to the back of neck and fell to the ground without any power.

With a sigh to relief, Naruto then turned to the man that ended their suffering even if it was only temporary and asked, "So why did you listen to me? I mean it took a hell lot of convincing and bribing the last time I did" referring to the Genin test with Kakashi.

"Hn" Sasuke grunted again making Naruto sweat-drop before actually answering, "You're not useless" referring to when Naruto was keeping Kakashi at bay during said test for almost the entirely of it.

"Only Genin level at best" Naruto waved offhandedly, "If I was at least Chunin level with my Clones, then maybe I could've taken Kakashi-sensei. But I still can't believe the three of us were stuck on a team; I mean you're the brooder, I'm the pranker and Sakura-san is the Fangirl. There's no balance between us at all."

"Hn. I just had to get the biggest Fangirl in my team as well. And I thought Sakura wouldn't try to rape me immediately when she thought she could…like those older Fangirls" he shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah…that is actually quite disturbing" Naruto shuddered as well, "What are you? 12? Haven't even hit puberty properly yet and they want to make you a father. I swear some of those Fangirls are more dangerous than most ANBU."

"Hn."

And the duo simply decided to wait on their ever late Sensei in peace and quiet with some level of understanding.

* * *

"Sorry there was a black ca-why is Sakura on the ground tied up and knocked out?" Kakashi asked suddenly as he saw his team. Both Naruto and Sasuke seemed to be acting as if this was perfectly fine.

"Hn."

That was as much as a response he got from the Uchiha. He looked to the blonde hear a better answer.

"She tried to attack me, then got hurt by falling and then for some unknown reason tried to rape Sasuke over there" Naruto explained causing Kakashi to sweatdrop before causing the later to ask, "That is a good story….right?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke deadpanned as the former said, "Do you think we would have not tied her up if that wasn't the case? She tried to assault both of us though in different ways."

"…."

Kakashi had to ponder for a second.

If this was the case than having Sakura on the team was a mistake. He had hoped that they would form a close team in the future else fall apart in the future as well.

Now it looked like neither of that would happen though Naruto and Sasuke seemed better in their own relationship between each other.

From his reports Naruto would try to challenge Sasuke or ask Sakura to dates. Neither seemed to happen but he didn't seem to want to take punishment from Sakura anymore which was understandable.

Sighing Kakashi thought, 'Sensei…Obito….Rin…what should I do? This team was even worse when we started off.'

However Kakashi had no answer to that as he said, "Right. Wake up Sakura and untie her; we're doing missions today" with an eye-smile.

Naruto nodded and cut the ropes that bound Sakura and took some smelling salt to place near her nose.

Upon awakening and seeing Naruto, the first thing she seemed to want to do whether it was an conscious act or unconscious act was to attack him; no matter how slow it was to him.

BANG!

Fortunately for both of them, Kakashi moved in to block the attack though not showing some surprise with the power of the blow and said, "Mare mare, no need to attack your team-mates" but then switched to a more serious tone, "If you intentionally do so then you'll be punished."

Sakura looked startled at him and nodded without saying another word. However seeing Sasuke again, Sakura seemed to float to him as he tried to avoid her with even more energy than before. Kakashi sighed thinking this was going to be more than a pain than he thought.

It looked like the Fan-girl was the most pressing issue right now…

* * *

Some minutes later, Kakashi explained to them that they would now on meeting at a bridge since it would be much closer for them to go to than the training field.

Plus there was the issue that the training field might be booked at one point or another.

It seemed that no matter how high ranked you are; with the exception of Hokage can infinitely book a training field.

'Not that I need one' Naruto thought with a small grin getting the hourly memories of his clones dispelling.

He decided that once every hour or so, unless he was doing something important, he would get the clone memories of the Shadow Clones he had set up. This was to ensure that he wouldn't be completely bombarded with information at once; even if some of them were dispelling due to failing to do Tree Climbing.

Yep, Naruto was using his Shadow Clones to train for him in Chakra Control as well as to read up some books in the Genin section of the Konoha library while he himself would be during missions.

'While the Teme doesn't train, I'll be getting stronger bit by bit…though it is sad that I'm still individually weaker than him even after a long time of training using the Time Loops' he thought sadly.

Half of year of Time Loops did increase his skills…but there was a clear physical wall with Taijutsu.

If he would rate his body's raw abilities it would be at Low Genin while the Teme as much as he hated it would be rated as High Genin.

Sakura on the other hand barely passed as an Academy Student.

As he was musing about this fact and to increase his physical training later and finding _how_ to, the team got to the mission centre.

Looking around, it was a large room with nothing but a table lined with scrolls with labels from D to A rank. And on the table was Hokage-jiji at the middle with Chunin at the side doing stuff.

Hell Iruka was here as well.

Kakashi stepped first in front of everyone with respect to Hokage-jiji saying, "Team 7 here for their first mission."

Hokage-jiji looked up fondly to look at them. Sakura immediately stiffened up while Sasuke looked uncomfortable. However Naruto only felt the same fondness to the old man that became like a grandfather to him.

"Team 7 and your first mission" the Hokage chuckled to what seemed to be some glee in his eyes that only Naruto and Kakash caught, "I believe this mission will do for your first mission."

Excited on the prospect of a mission he imagined battling bandits or enemy Ninjas and saving princesses; Naruto shouted, "What is it? Taking out bandits? Saving clients?"

"No, weeding a garden" the Hokage answered bluntly.

The Hokage almost failed to stop himself from rolling on the floor laughing at the expression that Naruto had.

There was so much expectation with new Genin on what they would do in missions and besides the fact that they were way beyond ready for those kinds of missions right now; the aged Hokage found joy in watching them react.

"WHHHHAAAAAAATTTTTT?!" Naruto screamed not believing what he was hearing. This was the kind of thing that Academy Students should be doing!

"NARUTO-BAKA! SHUT UP!" Sakura shriek at the same time before hitting Naruto on the head hard when he was distracted. Before she went in for a second hit, Kakashi-sensei moved in to stop her fist for a second time.

"Mare mare, I told you no violence against team-mates in this team unless it's in spars. We'll need to correct that" said Kakashi before turning to Iruka and asking, "Was she always like this? I believe it's against protocol to attack fellow comrades."

Naruto watched Iruka-sensei sigh before saying, "At the beginning no. But she changed and with no restraints since the Civilian Council…"

There was something unsaid and Naruto didn't know what it was. However Hokage-jiji looked grimly at Sakura before saying, "Sakura-chan. I believe this will be a warning not to harm others needlessly. If this persist then you will be written up and punished."

"H-Hai Hokage-sama" Sakura shuttered out in fear that even the Hokage was against her right now though she didn't know how close he and Naruto were or that this kind of actions are frowned upon.

However the Hokage probably figured that those at the Academy looked away at these kinds of actions.

He would need to 'talk' to them later; this kind of attitude to Naruto wasn't in the reports of her that he got for team assignment. The Hokage grumbled as Kakashi sighed off the mission for his team and told them to follow him out.

"This is going to be a long day…" The Hokage muttered though chuckling at the same time seeing his son and Team 10 enter the room for their first mission as well.

"Team 10 reporting in for their first mission…." The chain smoker said.

* * *

Some hours later, the team finished with the mission with them weeding out the garden.

Naruto had some trouble since he was a bit distracted with Shadow Clone memories popping in once in a while. However Naruto was pretty good in identifying plants due to his hobby of gardening and managed to get through the mission fine without a word.

Sasuke was completely silent like Naruto and did his work as best as he could without thinking too much about training and getting stronger. Sakura…complained a lot about getting dirty and her skin getting rough and such…

Naruto had to endure a lot with both Sakura trying to put him down while encouraging Sasuke while the villager that hired them looked at him in suspicion due to him holding the bloody Kyuubi inside of him.

'It's not like the damn fox can get out without me knowing' Naruto grumbled as he walked away from the bridge where Kakashi instructed them to meet up again for training tomorrow since he seemed to have finally figured out how to train them.

Naruto was looking forward to the training since there was a good difference between simply reading of something and training on it and getting someone to train you on an area.

The former may have more technical details but the latter corrected any mistakes you may make quickly and even may throw in new tips.

And he wanted to be in top shape for that kind of training.

As such, Naruto made a Shadow Clone and dispelled it to show what order he wanted the rest of the Shadow Clones to have.

And then the mass headaches happened.

"Daaammnnn….forgot to tell them to dispel one at a time…" Naruto muttered falling unconscious onto the ground in his apartment thankfully.

* * *

The next day, Naruto woke up and did some physical conditioning so he would be a bit stronger and faster than before in the long run…whenever the loop could end when he screwed up or something. He really didn't know whether the Time Loop continued or not and he wasn't going to take any chances.

If he did have more chances…then he would train a fair bit to get the best results he could get.

"Before I couldn't even get a good hit into Kakashi-sensei but now I could pressure him a fair it…though I'm too slow to still hit him" he said to himself crossed armed. He could honestly say that he wasn't strong individually, Sasuke was better than him in that regard, he gave the Teme that.

However he was someone would and could split into dozens willingly. Hell if he really pushed himself right now he could split into a thousand. Not even Sasuke could beat a thousand of him; he wasn't that weak to lose in a match of sheer stamina. Sasuke would probably tire himself out in the first hour.

Naruto noticed that Sasuke was fast and strong. Fast and strong was what he was; but at the same time not so enduring. He had read a bit about the Sharingan and what it allowed you to do and it frankly pissed Naruto off in same aspects but humbled the blonde boy in some other areas.

The fact that it allowed you to copy any jutsu you see with very few exceptions pissed him off. The good thing is that you copy it _exactly_ how it was used so no variants or different uses aside from the one you copied.

The ability to cast Genjutsu using your eyes only was interesting to Naruto. It allowed those from the Uchiha Clan to use Ninjutsu or Taijutsu while casting Genjutsu on enemies which would slow them down and potentially allow them to kill them. Powerful and useful when used right; Naruto could respect that.

The final seeming ability of the Sharingan was to allow the user to track and to some small extent predict the movements of anyone you see.

A person who sees a second into the future is a powerful enemy and that was probably what the Uchiha Taijutsu style was based around. They had the eyes to dodge any attacks so why bother to make a style to take a hit?

That was probably the reason why Sasuke's Taijutsu seemed powerful but at the same time…shallow to Naruto. It was really just an improved version of the Academy Style which was an all Taijutsu style which wasn't much.

"Still I wonder how good the Teme is compared to me right now?" Naruto wondered, "In straight up Taijutsu I will lose but add in Ninjutsu…"

Naruto giggled at the thought of Sasuke bursting out blood from his nose against the Harem Jutsu. He knew Kakashi would with those perverted orange books of his. Looking at the time, Naruto made a few Shadow Clones and sent them to the library to read on some interesting things.

With the Time Loop in place and Shadow Clones, Naruto could literally read every book in the library.

But he didn't since there was the chance he would have nothing to do there anymore. Naruto made the wise choice of sending only some to do so at a time since he _needed_ something to do else he would be wasted on nothing to do.

And that was something he figured he couldn't endure in the end.

* * *

 **A/N:**

So some may have noticed that A/N Chapter disappeared. Some may have noticed it suddenly being in my Profile Page. Yeah, guidelines and someone pointing it out made it clear that it was against the rules. Then again, outlining later plot and possible endings wasn't a good idea as well.

And so back to the relevant part where I talk about bits of the chapter.

There's nothing much to talk about really. The chapter title is more self-explanatory...but then other than D-rank missions I need to talk about the team.

You see, in Canon Kakashi would probably allow Sakura to physically abused Naruto. Mainly because he's frankly annoying and got what he got for constantly trying to get a date in a loud voice. Here, Naruto is a lot less annoying and Sakura really has no reason to attack him.

Then there's Sasuke. Oh Sasuke, how screwed up you are that Authors everywhere can make you from a deluded Saint to a raging psychopath. Like I said before, Sasuke respect power...and also anyone who gets him away from fangirls like Sakura.

Think about it this way, you have raging girls chasing after you and trying to have your clothes or worse your babies even if it means rape at an age you're just noticing girls...and those girls are what you notice. No wonder why he's so asexual for the entire Series!

Seriously, even if the fangirls in Canon really didn't try to do unmentionables to Sasuke, he still sees them as clueless...things that try to get closer to him when he has other things to worry about. Such as an actual psychopath S-rank order brother that slaughtered your family and made you relive it over and over again with Genjutsu that may come back to get rid of anyone you could and would be close to, all to make you suffer more.

While... _misguided_ as Itachi was, that really screwed Sasuke over in the emotional development that he rivaled Naruto there.

Also, from now on it'll be 10 pages a chapter.


	13. Chapter 12 - First C-Rank Mission

**Chapter 12: First C-Rank Mission**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

A month passed by for Naruto and the rest of his team.

A whole month passed by with nothing but D-rank missions and what Kakashi likes to call 'Training'. It was nothing but 'Teamwork' exercises for the three of them! Naruto was fuming at the thought of his Sensei thought training was.

Hell and they weren't even that good at it! The Ino-Shi-Cho team, Team 10 specialised in that kind of stuff since their jutsu bloody worked well in combination! They had to work well together to succeed and Naruto bloody knew that their families were close and the three of them knew each other for a long time.

And look at Team 7 with himself, Sasuke and Sakura who Naruto was really considering to be a bitch rather than a person (No offence to anyone in the Inuzuki Clan).

Sasuke naturally didn't work well together on a team which made things difficult.

Sakura didn't work well with Naruto and tried to suck up to the Uchiha all the time.

And meanwhile there he was trying to make things work with his stress levels increasing. It was no wonder he was going to demand a C-rank mission later on since that would be the best way to get the Teme to stop brooding and possibly make Sakura wake up with a slap on what a Ninja _should_ be.

They did 12 of those bloody missions; shouldn't that be enough for a simple C-rank mission?

Naruto could never understand how she became top of the class….

Hell of those who had just graduated as Rookie Genin, Sakura was at the bottom at the list. Even Ino who was in similar strength to her had her Clan Jutsus to back her up.

But even as Naruto pretty much ranted in his mind; he did do a fair bit in the month that he had with his training. Since Kakashi pretty much didn't teach them anything; Naruto went ahead and taught himself the Tree Climbing exercise.

It was gruesome and tiring even for him on how long it took. A full month passed by and even with clones it took that long to master it enough to bring his Chakra Control up to the average Genin now. His Chakra Control was finally at the Teme's level in terms of skill.

However once again through his readings and spiritual energy increasing as well as what seemed to be growth itself; his Chakra reserves increased to the Low Elite Jonin level making what he learn in Tree Climbing to be of the same level as before.

To describe what happened to him in imagery terms, the number of pipes on the dam that was keeping his Chakra in line increased becoming larger than before to endure more strain but at the same time the Dam itself grew larger making the strain even higher.

"Sometimes I really envy the Teme…his work doesn't cancel out for a stupid reason as his Chakra Reserves increasing too quickly."

But then he thought of all the things that he usually wouldn't be able to do if not for that. Shadow Clones were on top of his list.

"Yeah…never going to give up my ability to split into hundreds at will" he chuckled at the sheer absurdness of such a thing that could never ever happen. Shadow Clones quickly became a favourite for him long ago; years of progress have been shortened into months thanks to it.

If not for Shadow Clones then he would probably be still training to pass the Genin exam of all things.

But things relating to his Chakra reserves and control weren't the only things that happened in this month. Through reading various Taijutsu styles in the library; well the basics of them at least, Naruto had managed to find two Taijutsu styles that would be useful with his clones.

The first was called the Hidden Tiger Fist which was an extreme close combat style which focus on elbows and knees right up at the enemy.

The main premise of this style was to get so close that the enemy's own Taijutsu would suffer and their range of attacks decreased. While Naruto himself would be in great danger due to it, his Clones were perfect for this; as long as they weren't hit before they got too close.

The second style he found which he liked was called the Flying Shallow Style which was more of a mid-long range type of Taijutsu.

This style in particular focused more on the kicks and there were even flying kicks in the basics aiming to knock enemies out quickly before moving on. A swarm of Clones doing this was a frightening thing. Plus besides the long range kicks, there were ways to parry attacks before retreating.

Both styles were powerful but both styles had fatal weaknesses in them. With the Hidden Tiger Fist; he needed to get close avoiding everything else to get in especially close. This in a world with Ninjutsu in particular was hard unless you're fast enough.

Yeah…between fast and strong, a Ninja would be better if they were faster. However Naruto knew that you needed a certain level of strength against those with tough bodies. Even if he could hit them a thousand times, it would mean nothing if each punch did nothing.

Therefore Naruto needed to find the right combination between power and speed…though he preferred speed since in that path he can actually hit the Teme.

* * *

On the bridge where they were meeting, Naruto and Sasuke stood there having a conversation. Gasp! Naruto was actually having a conversation with Sasuke?! And a civil one as well? The world was ending!

No, really Naruto was talking to Sasuke on the most common topic they knew and would not insult each other that much.

Training.

"Say have you tried weights?" asked Naruto, "I mean I've heard of people using them but they drag you down so much initially but I hear they really pay off later on."

"Hn. I heard about them as well but the small and effective ones are expensive and the ones I heard with seals on them are even more rare and expensive" Sasuke replied much to the surprise of anyone other than the two who didn't know they could speak to each other without trying to kill each other.

"So it turns down to Fuinjutsu again…" Naruto mused, "I've been thinking of trying it out. Extra explosive tags and such seems useful among the other stuff the books talks about it."

Sasuke looked at him in disbelief and said, "Dobe you and books is like you not liking Ramen."

"Hey! I do read Dattebayo!" Naruto screamed at him. Annnd so the conversation which turned to something other than training turned to a fight. However Naruto knew better and continued as if Sasuke didn't insult his intelligence.

"So have you made any progress in making sure Sakura doesn't stalk you?" Naruto asked curiously. Much to his amusement the Teme shivered when he brought it up and glared at the blonde boy asking, "Why did you have to bring it up. I found her yesterday going through my trash…"

Naruto shivered with Sasuke this time as well. Who knows what someone wanted to do with someone else's trash…with his thrown out…waste and tissues….

"Teme did you remember to burn everything that has anything of you on it? Like tissues and…pretty much anyone similar to that?" Naruto asked with caution now. While Naruto hated the Teme greatly due to getting the attention of everyone so easily, he did pity the boy with his fangirls.

Having people stalk you no matter what reason was creepy (A whole bunch of ANBU and Hinata sneezed at that moment).

Seeing Sasuke pale at Naruto mentioning it allowed him to figure out that he forgot to…and probably Sakura now had used Tissues from Sasuke. Creepy as well mind you and once again Naruto tried to remember what the reason he liked Sakura to begin with was.

She had pink hair…yeah no.

She had a bad mouth, one of the worse and yet she split between insulting anyone to swooning over the Teme in an instant. Naruto briefly wondered if she was bipolar or something.

Big forehead as well; depending on the person it might look good but with the hair. But with Sakura it would have been better if she covered it up.

Plus she wasn't fit as a Kunoichi due to the sole fact that she diets.

What kind of Ninja male or female diets?!

Even Naruto while not being the study type before the Time Loop knew that Ninjas needed around 3 times the intake compared to civilians and that was the first thing they taught them at the Academy!

Aside from some 'teachers' at the Academy sabotaging him left and right; even they wouldn't dare remove such a basic lesson away from them. And yet she and a frightening large number of Kunoichi did this.

The only exception seemed to be that girl in the corner wearing a large coat and bangs covering her eyes (For some reason Hinata felt like celebrating for Naruto recognising her in some form for some reason).

"Hn. Less disturbing conversation dobe…" The Teme said regaining his bearing after shivering in fright for a good deal of time. Naruto nodded and wanted out on the part of the conversation where Sakura may-yep not going there.

"Wonder when we'll get a C rank mission…" Naruto mused. But before Sasuke could respond a certain ink haired blob-I mean fangirl appeared to try and tackle Sasuke. Keyword: Try.

It was at that moment that Naruto felt someone hugging him while swooning out, "Saaasssuukkkeeee-kuuuun!"

Naruto swore he could kill the Teme after that. This was beyond insulting and was an act of murder.

"I'm going to kill you slowly later Teme" Naruto looked to his right where the Teme dared smirked at him saying something along the lines of 'Didn't you have a crush on her?' with his eyes.

And now was the time that Sakura would realise it was him that she was hugging not the Teme.

Yep in 1…2…3.

"NARUTO-BAKA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Sakura shrieked to such a high volume and pitch that several windows in the village broke into tiny pieces before trying to attack him AGAIN! What was with this girl and not learning from her mistakes?

Making the 3 hand-seals needed Naruto muttered, "Substitution Jutsu" temped to replace himself with the Teme but barely didn't. Instead he used the Log. The Holy Log. The only thing worth worshipping for such a Divine being saved countless leaf Lives.

BANG!

And Sakura proceeded to smash said Divine Being into pieces as Naruto and Kakashi cried for such a tragedy. Wait Kakashi? When did he get here? Wondering that Naruto saw Kakashi proceeded to clap his hands snapping Sakura out of a trance before saying, "Mare Mare. No need for such violence on such the Holy Log."

Another tear appeared from his single eye as he prayed before wiping it away. The Trio with the exception of Naruto who nodded to this motion sweatdropped.

"…."

With silence between them and Kakashi finishing what he was praying he acted as if he just arrived and said, "Sorry about me being late. I was walking and this child tripped and hurt his knee resulting in me carrying the child to the hospital where there was a mugging and-"

"LIAR!" both Naruto and Sakura shouted at once. It seemed the only common thing they had with each other was calling out the lies Kakashi would spout out. They could their teacher pouting a bit of being called out on all his well thought out excuses.

"Mare mare, the road of life is quite hard to navigate through" Kakashi waved off the outburst of his students and went to say, "We're getting another mission today."

The Trio followed Kakashi in silent but in the inside they were all groaning at the fact that they were going to do another D-rank mission. Even with the use of Shadow Clones; Naruto found that said missions were extremely boring.

Plus it didn't help that since the month started; they had completed a total of 12 D-rank missions which with his Orphan funds now cut off made Naruto tighter on his budget. Much against common beliefs, Naruto was quite good with money. He had to deal with people scamming him left and right. Plus his skill to catch a good price was significantly higher than the norm due to him needing to predict how much stores will overcharge him (Or in the case of Ichiraku Ramen undercharge him).

And that was before he learnt how to read the prices.

Furthermore Naruto's patience was really tested when Kakashi refused to teach them anything other than teamwork exercises. It was due to this that Naruto simply continued his normal training without them.

'I swear if we need to do another D-rank….' Naruto mumbled in his thoughts not knowing what said outburst could cause to happen.

* * *

Entering the building with his team, Kakashi made his usual gestures and said, "Team 7 reporting for another D-rank mission."

Naruto twitched hearing that again. Oh how he wanted to hit his Sensei right now. However Naruto kept calm and endured it; he was a Ninja now and Ninjas didn't complain (Too much) about what kinds of missions that he would get.

Normally they would only get 3 missions a week but it seemed that Kakashi-sensei wanted to increase that number now.

"Ohh my cute little Tora-chan. I was so worried" the Fire Lord's wife said while snuggling the cat with extreme strength.

Inside the minds of too many in the room came the thought of, 'A little more…just a bit more…' hoping the woman would kill the creature. If there was a survey on which one was to kill between the Kyuubi and Tora, more than half the Ninja in Konoha would immediately choose the cat.

"Ghahaha! In your face stupid cat" Naruto laughed out. He especially enjoyed the pain the cat was in due to its recent actions to him.

'No wonder why it ran away..' Sakura thought seeing the cat and its owner.

Hokage-jiji proceeded to look through the pile of D-ranks and then muttered out of his pipe, "Now…Team 7's next duty is…hmm…babysitting an elder's grandson, shopping in the neighbouring village, helping with the potato digging-"

Shrieeaaak!

"Ah Tora!"

"-Or catching Tora again" the Hokage finished with the shudder of everyone else.

Oh hell no. He wasn't going to catch that damn cat EVER again. The last time they took that mission the damn demon almost scratched his face off and it was enjoying his PAIN! As such without warning and not much restraints Naruto proceeded to make his displeasure clear.

"NO NO NO to all of them!" he declared waving his arms in a cross like fashion and a face of pure irritation, "I know you have a more incredible mission for us than catching that cat! Find us a better one!"

In the minds of his team-mates came the following.

'…I agree' thought the last Uchiha.

"Geez...how annoying' thought the pink thing.

'Sigh…I thought it was about time for this…' thought the cyclops a bit surprised that Naruto was only acting this way now.

"You IDIOT!" shouted Iruka from the side of the Hokage, "You are just a rookie!"

'A rookie that can make hundreds if not a thousand copies of himself and learnt a B-rank Kinjutsu in a matter of hours' thought the Hokage not that he was going to say that aloud.

"Everyone starts off with the simple duties and works their way up!" Iruka continued.

However without hesitating Naruto shouted back, "But, but! We keep on getting the crappiest possible duties!

Whack.

"Be quiet you" Kakashi said with a sigh as the Hokage fiddled with his pipe looking at the blonde and some old memories which he should not dwell on. The man figured it would be best to explain some things about missions even though they should have been explained back in the Academy.

"Naruto! It seems I have to explain to you what these duties are all about" the Hokage puffed on his pipe, "Everyday the village receives numerous requests from babysitting to assassination. Each request is written down on these lists and divided into an A, B, C, D ranking based on difficulty."

'Though there is an S rank rating but it will a very long time before any of these kids will get to that point' The Hokage paused before continuing, "The village is also divided based on skill starting with me to the Jonins, Chunins and Genins. There missions are therefore handed by us at the top to ninjas based on their abilities. If the duty is completed successfully then we receive payment from the client. You guys recently became Genin; D-rank missions are perfect for you."

The Hokage turned to see that they weren't paying attention at all and instead was listening to Naruto who was sitting on the floor cross legged.

Naruto started counting, "Last night I had pork Ramen, so Miso sounds good for…"

"LISTEN TO ME!" The Hokage roared with an eyebrow twitching rapidly.

"I-I apologise" Kakashi shuttered out rubbing the back of his head nervously at the Hokage. He was SO getting yelled at later for his student's actions.

"Geez…all you do is give lectures like that" Naruto complained, "But you know what? I'm not the trouble-making brat you still think I am! I got way stronger and I'm a hell of lot more calmer than before" Especially since he had over half a year in this Time Loop thing; something like that was so long ago to him.

"Then why did you have another outburst?" Iruka sighed.

"Because of those stupid D-rank missions! Who _wants_ to catch Tora who claws at your face?! There are other, better missions for anyone than _that_."

Naruto pouted as Iruka stared in some shock before smiling and the Hokage seemed to smile as well looking at Naruto. It would be good to show him how the real world worked more than he did before.

"Ok" he decided getting the attention of everyone in the room, "If you want it that much then I'll give you a C-rank mission"

'Hehe…he used to only be able to express himself through pranks'

"It's a protection mission of a certain individual."

Naruto was now excited. Finally! Out with the D-rank in with the C-rank missions!

"Who?! Who?! A feudal lord?! A Princess?!"

The Hokage chuckled at Naruto, "Calm down, I'm about to introduce him. Hey will you come in now?" he asked as the door slid open revealing the smell of alcohol and an old man wearing fisherman clothes.

"What's this? They are all a bunch of super brats" the man said making another sip from his bottle, "Especially the shortest one with the super stupid looking face. Are you really a ninja yet? Hey?" he called out to the team.

"Haha…who's the shortest one with the stupid face?" Naruto asked looking at both Sasuke and Sakura….whom were both taller than him which meant…

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Naruto took out a Kunai and charged him a firm grip from Kakashi made sure that he didn't even take a step to the bastard before Kakashi sighed, "What's the point of killing the person we're supposed to protect you idiot?!"

Ignoring the antics of the team hired to protect him, the man with the knot-tie on his forehead said, "I am the super expert bridge builder Tazuna. I expect you to provide me super protection until I get back to my country and complete the bridge."

* * *

"Let's go!" Naruto cheered at the gates of the village which his team and client watching.

"What are you so excited about Naruto-baka" Sakura asked rubbing her poor ears. Naruto was too loud for her and Sasuke-kun.

"Cause I've never left the village before!" Naruto continued to act this way looking at the already new scenes though it wasn't of a late of trying.

Somehow there were too many things in the way for him to even try to leave.

Tazuna pointed at Naruto, "Hey! Am I really going to be safe with this brat?"

Kakashi eye smiled, "Haha, well I am a Jonin so don't worry" to Tazuna while he watched as Naruto paused hearing what the client said about him. He was a bit happy that Naruto didn't respond to the taunting at least.

"Hey old man!" Annnd that happiness was gone, "Don't mess with ninjas! We're incredible." Normally he would say HE was incredible but with a lot of evaluation of himself and his peers he was really only a Genin who maybe can beat Chunins.

"I'll agree when I see it especially from a brat like you" the man said before sipping again from his bottle, "Though if a brat like you counts as an ninja then maybe the lot of you aren't that great. Even if you become Hokage as well."

"….!" Naruto tried to contain his rage. He really didn't care about those who insulted him, he long grown out of caring about those kinds of people. However this person not only insulted himself; he insulted Iruka and Hokage-jiji as well.

He could not forgive that.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Kakashi had to hold Naruto back again from killing the client though to him it was quite useful to know what ticked the blonde boy so things don't get out of hand so easier later on. However Kakashi's instincts were on high alert.

The C-rank curse was still ever present in Konoha where Genin teams' first C-rank ALWAYS seems to being them in deep danger to a certain extent.

Hell he heard that Gai's first C-rank caused his team to meet the 7 Swordsmen of the Mist of all people and if not for Might Duy they would be dead. The man using the 8 Gates allowed him to slay 3 of the 7 resulting ultimately in his death as a result.

he didn't want to know what could've happened if Might Duy didn't get there in time.

He himself with Minato-sensei and his decreased team met and had to face Iwa-nin in a patrol mission as well. Hopefully this mission would only include bandits and MAYBE a Chunin enemy at best.

But looking at Naruto he especially hoped that was the case since Kakashi felt that his team wasn't ready yet for that kind of danger. Kakashi sighed, his job as an Elite Jonin was to protect the younglings in this mission no matter what.

And he would protect them even if it cost him his life. That was something he swore when he became their Jonin-sensei.

Even if it meant the Client would die first.

* * *

Some hours passed with Sakura trying to chat up Sasuke, with Sasuke trying to ignore Sakura and Naruto taking into the new sights as much as he could. Kakashi was still somehow waling perfectly with the orange book in his nose and Tazuna was still drinking while walking.

It was then that Sakura finally giving up on asking Sasuke for a date for now spoke up to Tazuna, "Umm…Tazuna-san?"

"What?" the man looked at her.

"You're from the Wave Country right?" Sakura asked.

"What about it?" The man really wanted more to drink but was running out. He didn't want to stay sober for the rest of the trip.

"Umm…Kakashi-sensei" This time she asked her Sensei, "Do they have Ninjas I that country too?"

Kakashi shook his head, "No, not in the Wave County. But…in most other counties the culture and customs may be different but hidden villages exist and so do Ninjas. To the many countries of the continent, the existence of a Shinobi village means military power. This is how they hold and maintain advantages over each other."

The group nodded, this made sense.

"But it's not that the villages rule the country, they merely stand equality with the country's government though there are other factors as well which I may talk about later. A small island county like the Wave Country doesn't receive much interference from the larger countries and may not need a Shinobi village."

'So larger countries generally need more military force which means more Ninjas?' Naruto thought.

"In the Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind and Earth countries they have the Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Sand and Stone Village respectively which are also the first and largest Shinobi villages and are thus called the 5 Great Shinobi Villages. Furthermore ruling over these villages are called 'Kages' which is a custom that usually only stands for these villages though there are other smaller countries whose leader take up the 'Kage' name as well though are not as well known."

"And these leaders are called?" Sakura asked interested though Naruto was a bit bored since he knew all of this already. Though Naruto frowned since Sakura was the top Kunoichi and she didn't know this…and he was sure this was in their history section in the Academy…or did they not teach about the other Kages at all?

'Bias teaching it is then…or did they sabotage the others' learning as well for me' Naruto thought bitterly. Restricting him was one thing but dragging other people was a whole other can of worms.

"The Five Kages are known as the Hokage, Mizukage, Raikage, Kazekage and Tsuchikage and they each reign over the thousands of Ninjas in the world each holding the title of strongest in their own villages" Kakashi finished seeing the uncertain looks of his students.

Naruto thought back when he used his 'Sexy Jutsu' to take out the old man…and that really didn't leave a good impression of the old man. Though Naruto knew that one time when the old man was angry…and it was so much worse than the mobs.

"Wow Hokage-same is the best!" Sakura cheerfully said in a fake tone even to him and the client it seemed.

"You guys just doubted Hokage-sama didn't you?" Kakashi suddenly said getting a react from ALL of his students at once. However he simply patted Sakura's head and said, "But don't worry. There won't be any ninja combat in a C-rank mission" which reassured Sakura as she looked at her Sensei, "Then we won't come in contact with foreign ninjas?"

"Of course not hahahaha" Kakashi laughed at the thought of such a thing. Those kinds of missions were B-rank and higher for a reason. But Kakashi caught the look of guilt on Tazuna's face as they walked pass a puddle.

'A puddle in a place that didn't rain for days…' Kakashi thought taking a glance and ignoring it to see how his students fared. It seemed the C-rank curse struck true again.

Naruto was at ease when all of a sudden chains wrapped around Kakashi before two Ninjas with 4 wavy lines on their headbands seemed to have ripped Kakashi apart so easily.

"One down."

"KYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!" Sakura screamed loudly at the scene while Naruto shouted, "Kakashi-sensei!"

Then he heard a voice behind him saying, "Two down" before the chains came to him as well.

If it was months ago, then Naruto would've froze in place in fear. But with so much training and the fact that he could repeat this with the Time Loops; Naruto wasn't afraid.

Naruto rolled out of the way before Sasuke with his Top Genin skills threw a Shuriken trapping the chain into a tree and then a Kunai to stop it from getting loose.

Landing on the large claws of those two Ninjas he kicked them both at the same time backwards but caused the chains to break from the large claw things.

Not wanting to be outdone, Naruto took out a Kunai and created two clones, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" making both of them head towards one of the two enemies just when the other one charged at the Client Tazuna.

"KYAAAAA!" Sakura screamed again not even moving to guard the client and instead running away towards Sasuke in the mist of the chaos.

'What is that stupid girl doing?!' Naruto screamed in his head about to use the Substitution Jutsu to save the client when…

STAB!

Tazuna died immediately with a claw in his chest.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 3: Loop 1 End (Total Loops: 54)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well when things can go bad, it will most likely go bad and more.

There are some slight changes from in this series can compared to Canon. The main part is that Naruto is different, but not different enough that most of his reactions can make someone as loudmouthed as him to turned into a silent brooder.

Second is how Sakura reacted. In Canon she immediately jumped in to protect Tazuna which was admittedly brave for her. Here, seeing Naruto and Sasuke's slowly 'blooming' relationship and Naruto's lack of eternal support for her, her mindset is already different from Canon.

Basically in Canon Sakura was brave because she had the support of at least Naruto who she at that point still considered dead-last ironically. Here, no support from Naruto, no need to be brave, oh! No Naruto to annoy her in capturing Sasuke's heart!

And that down spirals to Sakura being fundamentally different from what she could've been due to the little things. Naruto could've been a **very** different person if not for Iruka with the incident with Mizuki, same with Sasuke in how Itachi chose to make him want to kill him later on.

In all, this is just another mark against Sakura in this series.

Honestly I believe Sakura just protected Tazuna in Canon was more of the line of 'No one else can protect him, I have I do it!' in a terrified voice in her head seeing that Naruto struggling and Sasuke too far away. Here, Naruto was perfectly fine and was already reacting to deal with it...which meant he could deal with it instead of her.

Seem far-fetch?

You have...say a child in front of a moving...truck about to crash into the child. YOU are the closest to the child but there is already another person rushing in for the save.

Do you also rush in to also try and save the child or stand there leaving said person, obviously willing to risk their lives to do the work?

You'll be surprised at how many choose the latter if they didn't have to.

As for Kakashi?

He a) Is observing his team b) Cares more about his team than a client and c) Said Client was lying and endangering his team.

Notice how Kakashi in Canon only moved to save Naruto than to save Tazuna when attacked despite that he also did so to 'determine' who the target was.

Sakura is an unknown to the Ninja world as a former civilian so no worries there.

No one knows about Naruto since his very existence to the rest of the world was kept a secret. Konoha made sure his secrets were kept well to outsiders at least.

And Sasuke was just a vague maybe since he was the Last Uchiha in Konoha and people sent to them would be a lot stronger than mere Chunin and more likely Hunter-nin than that.

Last was Kakashi and no one save Jonin would dare attack him like that without a death wish or was too stupid.

So really, did Kakashi really not know Tazuna was the target? Of course not but it was likely he was anyway since he _was_ the Client anyway. He could've beat them down easily and used Sharingan to spill their secrets that way.

I'm honestly leaning towards Kakashi just giving his team 'Live Combat Training' to see how they react then anything else he said.


	14. Chapter 13 - Taijutsu Training

**Chapter 13: Taijutsu Training**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto was pissed.

Yes pissed was the right word when a comrade, a SHINOBI failed the mission because she was too much of a coward to even try to protect their client's LIFE in the mist of battle.

Yeah Naruto made a mental note to make sure that either Sakura improved or suffered for her actions.

But at the same time Naruto checked the date and it was Jan 3 which was the day after the Genin Test from Kakashi-sensei. It seemed that this was going to be the point where he would repeat until he cleared that mission or reached a certain point in it to start from there.

That gave him a month of training where he also had to work on recondition his body for his Taijutsu.

'Damn this is going to be annoying if I have to do this all the time when I come back at this point' he thought.

Even if Shadow Clones increased the process; what Naruto needed for his muscles to adapt to the movements of his Taijutsu.

His muscle memory was reset after all every time from now on but Shadow Clones could help with that to a certain extent from now on.

Making the cross sign Naruto said, "Shadow Clone" making a single clone which had half of his Chakra.

"Head to our private training place and make more clones to start training what we know. Split into four groups with one going over the Katas, one with the Lead Exercise, one with Tree Climbing and another to start copying books from the library to study and revise. Oh and make sure that you dispel a clone or two each hour so I don't get bombarded with memories all at once" he ordered.

"Got it boss" the clone said before disappearing with a leap through the window.

With that done, now Naruto could think of a few new ways to train with his clones doing most of the work ironing out some of the basics that he had a bit more. There wasn't much to do for Taijutsu skills with him learning more Taijutsu and combining them into a single style that would take a long time to do since all he had was the basics of each style he could find.

That was a good way to build a good foundation for his own style which was about Clones. He needed the style to have power when he needed, speed when he needed and lots and lots of tricks mixed in them as well.

"Looks like my prankster ways seem to help me in more ways than one as a Ninja" he snickered at the thought of trained lethal Ninjas falling for simple pranks.

He made a mental note to remember to instruct the Clones train using each other as distractions instead of just charging in or weaving all over the place making his style a bit predictable if not for the numbers.

Stabbing through a Clone which a long enough sword when the enemy was about to guard or counter attack would be one good way to do this; though he had to make sure he wasn't the one being stabbed.

"Hopefully my Clones can tell I'm the real one…" he worried aloud.

But with his Transformation Jutsu which was physical instead of an illusion made it easy for him to have any number of weapons with Clones.

If he threw a lot of them and some missed; wouldn't the enemy be surprised if those weapons popped into Clones to attack? That was another thing he wanted to work on.

"I need to focus on certain areas now. Better to specialise for now before spreading out in more areas…"

Besides that, most of the things he wanted to do currently involved Taijutsu and Ninjutsu. Genjutsu was long put on the shelves with him needing to constantly train his Chakra Control. Training Chakra Control was now a habit which his reserves STILL increasing and was moving into the Elite Jonin level.

"At this rate I'll have more Chakra than Kakashi-sensei" he muttered both liking that fact and disliking it since his Sensei wouldn't be able to teach them well enough if that was the case in Chakra Control.

Hell to mock him, with each checkpoint and even more time passing, his Physical or Yang Chakra would increase due to his training and thus his overall Chakra Potential and level would increase as well. Naruto in no doubt figured in at most a year, his Chakra levels would go to Kage level. Which meant he at least needed Jonin or higher Chakra Control to have average Chakra Control; something he hasn't achieved just yet even now.

He would need to start Water Walking sooner or later as well though Naruto wanted to combine the Leaf Exercise with Tree Climbing first to see if it could work. And if he got that far and his control still wasn't good enough…

He wasn't even going to try to think about it.

Plus there was still Kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu he wanted to dabble in as well to see where that went. Though both needed highly skilled teachers to learn from…Kakashi-sensei didn't seem to use a sword but maybe sealing…?

Naruto noted to asked his Sensei that later on.

But for now…back to Taijutsu.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei" A Shadow Clone that Naruto made just before the teamwork exercise the original was doing with his team-mates called out to him.

Kakashi looked away from the orange book at hand for a moment before wondering why Naruto sent a Clone to talk to him.

Well this was the first day as a Genin so he must have had some questions.

"Yes Naruto?" Kakashi replied trying not to be intimidating.

Those days in the ANBU did not help with his children skills or his social skills as well. Not that it made much of a difference with him being a Jonin at their age already.

"You know how my Taijutsu sucks right…?" the Clone drew it out a bit uncomfortable it seemed. Kakashi thought back at the fight he had with Naruto in the Bell Test and remembered his Taijutsu wasn't _that_ bad though needed lots of work still.

However to this half question Kakashi nodded and the Clone continued, "So how do I get better in it. The Academy was…not good for me since…"

It was then that Kakashi understood that Naruto needed more training than the others.

With his large Chakra Reserves he would need to train Chakra Control more than the others. With his next to no control, he needed more work on breaking even the simplest Genjutsu that an enemy may use.

And his Taijutsu was a mix between brawler, Academy style and some basics Clone tactics as well. Basically Naruto had his work cut out for him.

Thus Kakashi started thinking, 'No, if he can overcome these problems then he will become powerful.

While Naruto may never use Genjutsu, his Ninjutsu is more advanced than other Genin and he isn't half bad with Taijutsu…now to increase the latter he would need…'

But Kakashi was still lazy even if he wanted to help his students plus he believed that you needed to ask for certain types of help to get it. Begging for training did nothing for the man since they needed to learn how to train.

"Hmm…I think I know the solution to your Taijutsu problem Naruto" Kakashi said as the Clone brightened up, "I know a…colleague that would be more than happy to teach you a thing or two that could help" 'With all the extra Taijutsu training' Kakashi mentally added.

It wasn't as if Kakashi intentionally wanted to pawn his student over to Gai but rather he was the lead Taijutsu master of the village and probably Elemental Countries.

If there was anyone who could help Naruto with a style and his Shadow Clones it was him.

* * *

The day after Naruto was walking to Training Ground 9 which was a fair distance away from Training Ground 7 where his team worked at.

After he woke up early again, Naruto made some clones to continue with the Chakra Control training and went to meet his new Sensei for Taijutsu though he wondered if this 'Might Gai' was here at all.

It was quite early-

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUTTTTTTHHHHHHH!" came a distance shout of sweet and…more sweet with hard-work.

Naruto's mouth was left gaping at the scene of a grown man with giant eyebrows in a green spandex suit with the Konoha headband strapped to his waist. He had to rub his eyes a couple of times to believe what he was seeing.

Not only was this man running, _running_ with his hands, there was a small clone of the man with smaller eyebrows doing the same thing while shouting about 'Youth' and the such. It took them another minute before they were in front of Naruto.

"So…you are the man Kakashi-sensei talked to me about" Naruto said bluntly trying to stay neutral as possible. Must…not…make…fun…of…eyebrows…

The green man got up along with his clone and then gave him a thumbs up with a smile that disturbingly shined, "Yes my youthful student of the unyouthful Kakashi! I am Might Gai, the leading Taijutsu Master and Green Beast of Konoha and the eternal rival of Kakashi!" Another flash from his teeth appear again.

"And I am Rock Lee, the Azure Beast of Konoha!" Lee's teeth shone exactly like Gai's at that moment with their 'Good Guy' pose as Naruto now deemed it.

Furthermore Naruto was thinking of pranks to get back at Kakashi-sensei for pinning him with these guys even if it was well meant.

"So my Youthful friend, I have heard that you have trouble with Taijutsu that you require help from. Help that my eternal rival was unable to provide" Gai placed his hands on his shoulders now a bit more serious than before.

Naruto nodded, "I'm Naruto and a current student of Kakashi-sensei. My Taijutsu is barely at standard and I want to get stronger. I don't want to be a liability to my team."

All of a sudden Gai and Lee started crying at once and started to shout out things.

"OHHH WHAT A YOUTHFUL STATEMENT!" Gai shouted.

"YES GAI-SENSEI! I SEE THE FLAMES OF YOUTH FROM YOUNG NARUTO-KUN!" Lee continued.

"YES LEE! IF WE CANNOT TRAIN NARUTO-KUN TO BE STRONG THEN I WILL RUN 100 LAPS AROUND KONOHA WITH MY HANDS!"

"AND IF I CANNOT DO THAT I WILL DO KICK THE POST 1000 TIMES!"

"AND IF YOU CANNOT DO THAT THAN I WILL DO 10000 PUSH-UPS!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

Naruto stared at this horrifying scene as the duo hugged tightly and swore he saw the illusion of a sunset and waves splashing behind them. Naruto blinked twice and decided along-side his own Sensei's antics with those Orange books that all Jonin are crazy to some extent and accepted it.

After another 10 minutes of Naruto watching the two hug and shout out challenges, they came back to helping Naruto with Gai asking, "Please show me your Taijutsu skills against Lee here. You may use Ninjutsu as well if you wish."

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee saluted.

"And Lee."

"Yes Gai-sensei?" Lee asked.

"Make sure to go slow first to let out youthful friend show his determination" Gai lectured as Naruto took this as a hint to get ready.

Lee was in a strange stance that placed one of his arms stretched out with the other behind his back and his knees bent a bit.

Lee smiled as Naruto charged in with a flying kick leap to the head which he promptly dodged and counter attacked hitting Naruto's side.

Going with the momentum he rolled and made a Cross sign calling, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" creating 5 Clones around him which charged at Lee while he got back up.

"What is this?"

Surprised in his eyes didn't stop him from hitting he Clones quickly and dispelling them immediately.

Naruto had to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu another time creating 2 more Clones with one staying back making more Shadow Clones while the other charged in with him.

"So you can make Solid Clones. What a youthful ability" Lee commented taking out the clone next to Naruto as the two of them did a bit of a Taijutsu battle with Naruto losing badly before his backup clones came.

"Haa!"

A dozen clones rushed at Lee with the same flying kick leap else charged close at him before attacking with elbows and knees. But Lee was too fast to hit and he shouted, "Lead Whirlwind!" before spinning and hitting all of the Clones at once.

But Naruto wasn't done yet. Making another set of Clones, Naruto repeated the same tactics with Lee using that same spinning move again but this time some of the Clones threw each other at Lee stopping the attack prematurely.

Before long it became a battle of attribute as Naruto kept on sending Clones with himself at Lee while Lee used his superior speed and power to take them down before Naruto repeated adding something new in as the battle continued.

Before they knew it, half an hour passed with Lee getting faster and faster without much tire while the opposite happened to Naruto even with his insane stamina. Most of it went to creating Clones to fight with though.

"Enough!" Gai shouted stopping Lee before he punched Naruto in the face, "I have seen enough though this was indeed a Youthful battle. Come! We shall discuss how you did and how to improve your Flames of Youth!"

"Yes Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted as Naruto nodded noting that his hearing would sooner or later get worse being around them too much. He pitied their team. However Naruto noted that Lee was strong and Gai was probably even stronger in Taijutsu.

Kakashi seemed to have the right choice bringing him here. He even got to spar against someone simply superior in Taijutsu instead of the Teme who would smirk every time he won. That was a plus in his books.

"Now my youthful friend, I have to say that your determination in the spar was quite youthful and that I envy my eternal rival for one who seemed to have to work very hard" Gai started, "My eternal Rival was right in sending you to me, the style you require is something very rare."

"Gai-sensei, do you mean those Youthful Clones of Naruto-kun?" Lee asked shooting up his arm in the process.

Gai nodded and answered Lee, "Yes my Youthful student. Shadow Clones are notorious for taking a large amount of Chakra even for Jonin to use. Hokage-sama who is our ever youthful leader hesitates to use this jutsu as well. For Naruto-kun to use so many means he had a very youthful amount of Chakra."

Naruto nodded but said, "But in exchange I have an impossible time using Jutsus requiring low amounts of Chakra. I couldn't even pass the Genin exams from the Academy the normal way since I couldn't and still can't use the Clone Jutsu. It broke me several times in the pass when I couldn't become a Ninja due to that Jutsu being the sole reason I couldn't pass."

At his words both Gai and Lee started to cry and sob at the determination that Naruto had to have to become a Ninja despite his inability. Both of them cried because Naruto's situation was similar enough to Lee's own.

"YOSH! My fellow comrade in Youth! We are similar even if I am incapable of using any Chakra!" Lee cried.

'Incapable of using Chakra?!' Naruto mentally shouted, 'Ninjas subconsciously channel their bodies with Chakra to strengthen it. Not being able to use Chakra means Lee was essentially a civilian with LOTS and LOTS of training. No…that kind of speed and power is something that a civilian is capable of having no matter how long they train.'

However Naruto really didn't know much about what kind of thing would allow Lee be a Ninja but not allows him to use Chakra for Jutsus so he didn't speak more on the matter.

Learning a bit of a topic was one thing but it was another to know what you were talking about while explaining and Lee's condition was in the medical Ninjutsu section which he didn't touch.

"Yes my youthful student Lee" Gai nodded, "Due to having that amount of Chakra to use Shadow Clones, I believe young Naruto-kun will not likely be using any Genjutsu as well or Iryojutsu (Medical Ninjutsu) due to the Chakra Control requirements. However we must talk about Naruto-kun youthful efforts in Taijutsu!"

"YOSH! Naruto-kun displayed many youthful tactics with his clones but they lack the pressure to overwhelm my youthful self!" Lee exclaimed.

"Then we must correct this. More numbers means more attacks, more attacks means more interference with other clones. Yes, it is indeed hard to find a proper style for you Naruto-kun!" Gai exclaimed, "Though I recognise the Hidden Tiger Fist and Flying Shallow Style when you fought."

"Yeah, I learnt them a while back trying to find a good enough way to find a good enough style for Shadow Clones or just use parts of them to make a new Taijutsu style for it" Naruto answered truthfully though it may have been the wrong thing to say.

"WHAT A YOUTHFUL THING TO DO NARUTO-KUN!" Gai shouted while crying, "FOR YOU TO CONSIDER MAKING A TAIJUTSU STYLE IS THE ULTIMATE TASK FOR ONE WHO KNOWS THE FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

Lee also started crying for some reason as well, "YES WE WILL HELP YOU NARUTO-KUN! WE WILL MAKE YOU THE BEST SHADOW CLONE TAIJUTSU MASTER IN KONOHA-NO THE WORLD!"

"YES AND IF WE CANNOT DO THAT THEN I WILL DO 1000 JUMP ROPES!"

"AND IF YOU CANNOT DO THAT THAN I WILL CLIMB THE HOKAGE FACES!"

"YOSH! AND IF YOU CANNOT DO THAT THAN I WILL CLIMB THE HOKAGE FACES WITH ONE HAND!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

The duo hugged each other again and Naruto wondered if there was going to be a lot of this…if not for the fact that he had seen the darker side of the world; he would have found this completely disgusting on too many levels. Almost.

Their show of their bond was admirable to Naruto at least and he didn't want to do anything to disrespect that.

* * *

A week had passed with Lee and Gai helping with his Taijutsu and things have been very good for Naruto for several.

Other than the fact that Gai was the leading Taijutsu expert; he was also the most informed person about Taijutsu in general even more so than Hokage-jiji himself!

Due to this, Gai was able to split Naruto's Taijutsu into four section which he needs to train to switch between in a moment's time. These sections are Taijutsu that focus on offence, defence, swarming and control.

"Four sections but there are a tone of parts in each of them…plus it'll be even larger and complicated if I ever add in Kenjutsu as well" Naruto noted.

The parts from the Hidden Tiger Fist and Flying Shallow Style were both Taijutsu styles that focused on offense and Gai added a couple other moves though he didn't name the styles with this.

Now other than super close combat and mid-range combat of the Hidden Tiger Fist and Flying Shallow Style, Naruto with the help of his clones were trained partly in the Goken (Strong Fist) to destroy defence and a couple other moves that evaded the defence of the enemy.

While Naruto's offensive Taijutsu was quite rough in style, his defensive style was much smoother taking from passive Taijutsu that counters the flow of attacks. Naruto had a hard time with this and needed a lot more training to have a proper defence. Even more so if he wanted to switch between the two.

"Though if I can use the same style of defence in offence properly as well…" Naruto sighed.

Then there were the Swarming and Trapping type Taijutsus that the three of them were experimenting on creating for himself.

Swarming referred to the mass number of Shadow Clones that Naruto could send in. Most; nay almost all Taijutsu were designed for a lone person to fight with not a mass number with few exceptions.

Naruto was different in this regard with his Shadow Clones.

Due to this, Gai managed to give some tips on how to synchronise with his Clones better but doing so limited some moves he could do individually in exchange.

Naruto once asked the man on _why_ he didn't teach Naruto something more advance but for that, he needed more foundations on his Taijutsu style and moreover, more experience in using it.

Control Taijutsu however was much easier and didn't refer to a specific type of Taijutsu surprisingly. This style of Taijutsu with his Clones consisted of something similar to when he used his Clones to move Kakashi-sensei into a trap back in the Bell Test.

Basically you control the actions of the enemy allowing them to move in a certain way, attack in a certain way and defend in a certain way.

This was by far the most complicated Taijutsu Naruto had to practise but his pranking nature helped him a bit. Now all he had to continue to train and mend together properly while adding and removing moves.

That was admittedly smarter than just adding random moves in that seemed cool.

Many of the defensive moves from the Academy Style he had been using were replaced by something called Tai Chi which involved using the flow of energy from the enemy as well.

Basically Naruto was pushing the attacks aside rather than block to take advantage of the gap in that moment. He found it similar enough to the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist but focused much more and apparently better in defence.

However Naruto still had trouble from moving from attacking and moving to using Tai Chi to defend since the two styles were different in nature.

"Wish Gai-sensei would allow me to learn some of the more advance moves…though I get I need to master the basics first" Naruto sighed as he approached the bridge again after training with Gai and Lee in the mornings, "Plus I need to adjust the style to work with and without Clones and how I want to use them…so much work."

Although Naruto was complaining, in fact he was grinning.

'Finally. Finally I have something that will allow me to get stronger even if my body will be reset back to before every time the reset happens' he thought happily. After the training with Gai and Lee which also rapidly increased his body's own strength; Naruto had more than often used Shadow Clones in place of his own team and trained with his Clones instead.

Although they weren't as strong as Lee anytime soon; it allowed him to iron out some parts that left too many openings, or add in openings for traps with certain moves. By the end of the third week, Naruto could say that his Taijutsu was at the average Genin level now individually.

The training with Gai and Lee allowed him to cover so many gaps in his Taijutsu originally and made it easier for him to last longer in the spars against Sasuke.

And with Clones, Sasuke would lose and Kakashi was by sure would have a lot harder time against him and his clones.

"But there's always a restriction" Naruto muttered as he thought of the reason why Sasuke kept on beating him and Lee as well but more on the latter. Speed and power. It was simple and it was what kept a Genin from taking out a Jonin in a straight out fight.

Skill did not matter much when the difference in strength and speed were too different.

Naruto sighed wondering if there was a way to increase his strength and speed faster. It would definitely help against those missing-nin later on with the C-rank mission turned back and probably anything later on since increasing his body's strength would allow him a more variety of tactics.

* * *

"Hmm? A way to increase your speed and power more quickly?" Kakashi repeated what his student of three weeks had been making a good deal of progress for a rookie Genin in the area of Taijutsu. With his Shadow Clones, that would be the most ideal area to train in other than Ninjutsu.

Kakashi pondered at the blonde boy and saw the same eyes that his teacher had when he wanted to do something and would not allow anything to get in the way. While the boy had his mother's face and attitude for the most part he inherited his father's hair and eyes. Especially the eyes Kakashi noted.

'This boy would become quite a lady killer later on' he mused before telling his student, "Yes there is a method to do so and it's the same method which Gai and his clon-student use as well. During my time while I was younger, I used this method to increase my body's ability as well" he explained.

"A way to make me stronger? Tell me" Sasuke appeared after finishing a pitiful spar with Sakura which was completely one sided if not for the fact that Sakura refused to attack or that she was that weak that Sasuke didn't need more than a few seconds to take her out cleanly.

Sasuke scoff at the girl. She wanted in his pants like too many and some too old ethically as well in the village and as such did not bother to train and instead become weak and stay that way. If he ever killed Itachi and were to rebuild his Clan it would be with someone strong and wasn't a 'yes' man like too many.

The Raven haired avenger looked at his blonde team-mate and noticed that he was growing stronger and it was apparent especially in Taijutsu and now that same blonde was asking how to get stronger quicker. Naturally he wanted in as well.

"Mare mare, I was about to tell you all as well…" Kakashi looked at Sakura and corrected himself, "Well everyone who wanted to at least."

Both Naruto and Sasuke stood there silent waiting for their teacher to continue. Sasuke was thinking of how closer he would become to kill Itachi and how Naruto would soon be a worthy rival to compare himself to.

Naruto on the other hand knew what Kakashi was talking about. Gai and Lee's weights were special compared to normal weights.

They had seals on them which made them much heavier than normal and could be adjusted for the user. Such a thing was rare though since seals were rare in general and hard to learn.

"What I am talking about are these special weights that allows you to adjust the weight" Kakashi explained, "Though I found there was a much easier and more effective way compared to Gai's which are Resistance Seals."

"Resistance Seals?" Naruto asked not knowing what they were. He would really want to start on Fuinjutsu now…at least to learn how to recreate them.

"Yes, these seals create a resistance on the body like you're walking through water though it can easily become much thicker if you wish.

The advantages are naturally that the whole body gets worn out more easily but gets stronger faster as well especially in speed."

Naruto perked up at that.

"However to apply them you need a Seal Expert like myself to do so else it may fail and the seal with either not work at all or crush you into tiny bits" Kakashi eye-smiled at them ignoring their fears.

Yep Naruto swore he would look into Fuinjutsu in the next loop as soon as possible.

His Taijutsu was almost up to scratch for now and he just needed the experience with sparring stronger and faster foes like Lee.

A week passed and Naruto did not make up a storm to get the C-rank mission and the Loop reset back at the beginning of the month.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 3: Loop 2 End (Total Loops: 54)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Introducing Gai and Lee! The two easiest characters to write in Naruto Fanfiction, EVER!

Seriously, all you need to do with the duo is something about Taijutsu, Training and YOUTH! Their literal characterisation is based off those three things completely to the extremes where other characters tries to avoid them out of principle.

Also, who else would possibly train Naruto who has the ability to split into hundreds? No Taijutsu style exists specifically for someone like that though I admit that later on I'm changing how Naruto fights based off recommendations from his teachers.

Gai here went for the swarm training along with some other basics that Naruto needed.

Offence: Rapid fire attacks from close to mid range.

Defence: Tai Chi and redirecting attacks passively

Swarming: Lots and Lots of Clones for a quick attack to overwhelm the enemy.

Control: Using said Lots and Lots of Clones to manipulate enemy into traps else gain openings.

These will be the core of the fighting style Naruto has which will only evolve later on.

Kakashi on the other hand will want to teach Naruto different on this regard.

Same as Jiraiya if he also teaches Naruto.

Then there's the Resistance Seal that I placed into the plot. Honestly, they're a little plot points that gives reasons for Naruto's body strength to increase faster than it should later on in the series.

I rather not make up some method to rapid train one's muscles in a short moment or even copy one method that I know from 'Chunin Exams Days'.


	15. Chapter 14 - Fuinjutsu and Uzumaki

**Chapter 14: Fuinjutsu and Uzumaki**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

The Time Loop repeated and Naruto awoke once more on Jan 3 of the year.

Before he had to partly rush through the week as the Loop would stop at each week but now Naruto was much more time to do what he needed, he would probably be able to prepare everything he needed to take care of the 2 missing-nin he and his team needed to take down.

Taijutsu wise he was fine and Chakra Control was getting a bit better with him halfway there with the Water Walking exercise.

By the time he completed it he would be a High Genin in Chakra Control which was kinda sad though adding on the Leaf Exercise and constant practise he may sooner or later breach into the Chunin area for that area.

"Now to find more about Fuinjutsu…it may go better if I know some basic things about it when I ask Kakashi-sensei to teach me more about it" Naruto went to the library under a Transformation of course, he was using the Jutsu so much it was second nature now.

Creating Five Shadow Clones, Naruto lead them to the Fuinjutsu section which had numerous books on the theory of Fuinjutsu though there weren't much on the practical stuff.

"You lot start reading" he pointed the transformed Clones at the books, "Best we know more on the theory side of things before we start. Make sure you read up on how to make a storage scroll and if you can, an explosive tag. Those will be useful later" thinking of the items he needed to carry on the mission.

Naruto planned on spending at most two more Loops, meaning two more months before he started on that C-rank mission again.

By then he would have a goof enough gasp on his Taijutsu with the help of those Resistance Seals Kakashi-sensei was talking about.

It only prompted him more to start on Fuinjutsu when he found that he made as much progress in the week remaining of the loop in strengthening his body as the three weeks prior while working out with Gai and Lee.

However Naruto felt that he would physically get stronger faster than other people due to the Kyuubi.

"I basically heal faster with that thing in me…at least there's a perk with that inside of me other than making the whole village hate me" muttering under his breath the original Naruto went and started to read some of the basic stuff on Fuinjutsu; to be precise the stuff that could relate to those resistance seals.

 _Fuinjutsu is the art of sealing and is known to be one of the most complicated Ninja art in the world and potentially the most powerful one as well. Due to the complicacy of the art, it is as a result one of the harder arts to learn and master and have the least number of masters in it with few exceptions (See Uzumaki Clan)._

Naruto paused reading that last part.

Uzumaki Clan? There was a clan with his name? Why hadn't he learnt about this?! He had looked through practically every damn book that an Academy or civilian could access in this library and only here as a reference was this Clan's name?!

"What the hell is going on?!" Naruto muttered with rage.

His clones paused at him to see what was going on but with a wave of the hand he dismissed them to continue reading. He would need to see Hokage-jiji or Kakashi to work this out…the latter first if the former stops him from trying to find anything out.

Not to say he didn't trust the old man…it was that he HAD to know about this and with his more calm mind; Naruto did not charge to the Hokage Tower and demand from the old man on why he hadn't told him about his Clan.

'But on the other hand if Hokage-jiji directed him to more information….' Naruto gulped and had to take the chance.

If he could not get the information this time…what was another Time Loop to wait for it?

Flipping through the book, there was nothing else on the Uzumaki Clan and Naruto found ages misnumbered meaning they were ripped out or not copied over for some odd reason.

'Yep, going to Hokage-jiji to this.'

* * *

"JIJI!" shouted an oh so familiar voice from outside the room of his office.

The Hokage of Konoha placed down his pen and allowed for Naruto to enter. It was about time that he got a break and seeing the boy who he thought of as a grandson and family was a good way to do it.

"Come in Naruto" the Sabotori called out to the blonde boy who seemed…dishevelled more than usual with his pranks.

On the mention of pranks in his mind, the old Hokage unconsciously grumbled at the sheer paperwork that was created each time Naruto did something to the village.

It didn't help that every time Naruto did something the civilian council sent double the paperwork on protest in an effort that seemed to want to kill them; or burn down his office, one or the other.

"So what can I do for you my young prankster" the Hokage said in a grandfatherly tone.

He had long since made it clear he was fond of the boy and nothing was to happen to him…especially after those assassination attempts.

"I want to know about the Uzumaki Clan."

That statement alone shocked the old timer and almost made him gap at the boy of where he got this information from. Following the fall of Uzu and the Uzumaki Clan as the world knew it; the Third Shinobi War happened.

Due to this no one really paid much attention of how they were destroyed and even less so when the Kyuubi attacked when certain unknown people erased most of the information on them.

The Hokage hunted for those people for a week before he had to get back to his village and by the time he was finished, any trails were long cold.

But that didn't mean he didn't have anything on the clan.

He knew that despite inheriting his father's hair instead of the Uzumal trademark red; the boy was a true Uzumaki.

Again not that ALL red haired were part Uzumaki; it was the most common hair colour of the clan and even he was surprised when he found no red in Naruto's hair all those years ago.

"Jiji, you there?" Naruto asked waving his hand at the old man that was in the mist of his many memories that turned up with the name.

The Hokage sighed at the fact that Naruto would ask him now. He prompted the ANBU out of the room and sealed it before starting to think.

'No' the man thought, 'This would be a good time to tell him part of his heritage. Of course the things with Minato and Kushina would have to come when he is at least a Chunin or even Jonin since they had many enemies. I could at least tell the poor boy about his family and why he had to keep it away from him…there are still many that wish the clan to disappear like the Senju and Uchiha.'

"Yes Naruto-kun. I was just collecting my thoughts for a moment to answer you but where did you find the information in the first place?" the Hokage sighed for a second time already. This was going to be a long talk.

"A book on Fuinjutsu" Naruto immediately answered causing the man to chuckle since it was ironic that Naruto was drawn to that art in particular and especially more so since he found some information on his clan there as well.

Smoking his pipe a bit more, the aged man started speaking, "What I'm going to tell you will be considered an A-rank secret due to the information being known to some of the older Shinobi. You are allowed to tell people but it is inadvised for civilians to for obvious reasons."

Naruto nodded and the man continued.

"The Uzumaki Clan which you are a part of; yes you are part of the Clan despite not have the trademark red hair; was an Ancient Clan with a history was long or even longer than the Senju, Uchiha and Hyuuga Clans. The reason for this is that the Clan have a special trait in which they live twice or more as long as other people. Because of this they had members who lived or more than a century and were thus called the Clan of Longevity. I have no doubt that you inherited this trait."

'Seeing that the Kyuubi is still inside of you, your body must have had this trait since otherwise it is said that it is impossible to contain the Kyuubi for so long without any noticeable effect' the man muse.

"So…I can live longer than normal people? Not very useful for a ninja" Naruto commented making the Hokage sweatdrop badly.

"Naruto. When I say that they love longer, I also mean they age accordingly as well. I've seen those my age in the Clan that looked as if they were only passing thirty barely. Another thing about your Clan is that you have large Chakra Reserves and Stamina though I suspect yours is even higher than normal due to what you hold."

Naruto looked down and patted his stomach where the seal his processor placed. Oh he wanted to take Minato's place that day using the seal but he didn't know the damn thing and Minato had to sacrifice himself leaving the man with the paperwork to rebuild the village.

Upon learning that, the Third Hokage was tempted to use Edo Tensei (Impure World Resurrection) and force the dead man to do the paperwork for him….if not for the fact that he was and currently in the stomach of the Shinigami.

And that he needed to sacrifice a living person of course…that was definitely the main reason why he didn't.

"Besides that you and those of your Clan tend to last longer in battle due to these factors you also have a mild healing factor which I might add is accelerated to even near impossible rates due to the Kyuubi as well."

Those words made Naruto's eyes looked even graver and the old man felt the guilt of not telling him earlier. But then before 'that' incident with the traitor where the boy learnt of his burdens; The Third Hokage suspected the boy was more naïve than he was now.

But he had to continue and focus on the good points to lift Naruto's spirit.

"Now now Naruto. Though all of these aspects; you Chakra Reserves, Stamina and Healing were increased due to being the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi; they were all originally aspects that your clan were known for even if each of them got a considerable boost."

"Jin...churiki…?" Naruto asked looking up with those sky blue eyes of his that looked as if he was a puppy that was kicked. Dat. That was the wrong thing to say and now he had to explain how there were 8 more like him and how they experienced similar or in some cases worse lives than him.

"Nevermind" Naruto shook his head and the Hokage sighed in relief before saying, "Now about my Clan.

"Of course" the Hokage replied before saying, "Now where was I? Yes…the aspects of larger Chakra Reserves, Stamina and Healing were considered to be a minor bloodline. You know what a bloodline is right?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah like those Hyuuga eyes and what Teme might get later on."

"Yes…not all Bloodlines are Dojutsus and your Clan's one is such example where it is hard to tell o first sight that there is one" he explained, "From what I can tell almost all Uzumaki inherited what they called the Uzumaki Body which gave insane Stamina and Endurance as you know along with the side effect of more Chakra and Healing than normal as well. I meant that those of your Clan can train in Taijutsu faster than normal and I suggest you do so as well to catch up from those years of slacking off."

"Hehe, I'll make sure to"

'Especially now I know that training more is even more of a good thing than before…have to make sure to train as much as possible before attempting the next checkpoint in this Time Loop.'

Puffing his pipe the Hokage continued as Naruto stared absorbing as much information as possible, "Then there are the more uncommon types called Uzumaki Chakra and Uzumaki Sensing. I do not know much about the topic but apparently the former had denser Chakra which allowed them to form into Chains or weapons; mostly chains and the later was a more advance form of sensing though there are levels of power in each of them."

"So I might have them as well?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage shook his head saying, "I do not know. You might have but you have no way to know or you do not have them. However it is well known to certain people that those with the highest level of Uzumaki Chakra was able to create countless Chains to battle taking down dozens of enemy Shinobi at once and the ones with the highest level of Uzumaki Sensing could tell the emotion of those around them; especially hostile intent."

Naruto had no idea of whether he had the latter two at all. There was no indication that he had anything that was similar to creating chains from his Chakra and how could he tell emotions from each other when they were primary hate from the villagers?

"Anyway enough of the Bloodline abilities of your clan Naruto" the Hokage said, "The fact that your clan was very good with seals was more common knowledge than the fact that you had possible hidden Bloodlines mainly due to your clan not being one to flaunt their powers like the Uchiha Clan."

Naruto snorted at that remembering how whether before or after he became an Orphan he was top at everything with the exception of Teamwork which decreased dramatically after said event.

"Like I said, your Clan was Ancient and may have been as old as the oldest Clans out there. The fact was that there were rumours that the Uzumaki Clan were cousin clans to the Senju Clan which was solidified even without verification when they became allies during the reign of the Shodaime Hokage. Due to the alliance Konoha now wears the symbol of the Uzumaki on their flak jacket; the swirl."

"Living in the Land of Whirlpools or Uzu and protected by the natural defences, the Uzumaki Clan while small had an almost monopoly of the water trade routes to many countries. With their seals, even the most violent storms were bypassed easily and any enemies that dared raid them came out in pieces."

The Hokage chuckled as he added this next bit, "What was more known about them aside from their pursuit of Fuinjutsu which were legendary; too legendary…" the Hokage looked saddened for a moment, "Was of their temper. It was well known at the time that you did NOT piss off an Uzumaki for whatever reason especially since your clan was mostly peaceful and went their own way without too much conflict with the rest of the world."

Sighing he continued, "However that was not to be even with their peaceful intentions. The Uzumaki Clan was too powerful in Fuinjutsu, in their bodies that lasted much longer than other Shinobi, in their trading, in their economic and in their political power with the rest of the world especially for a small country. This was especially so after the end of the Second Shinobi War where all Nations suffered while Uzu seemed to thrive. Due to this, multiple countries including two of the Great Shinobi Nations; Kumo and Mizu along with many smaller countries that wished to take the wealth of the clan attacked them to exterminate them."

Naruto gasped.

"With a great number of forces which excluded the famed Seven Swordsmen of the Mist thankfully due to their connection with the Clan making their Swords else modifying them from the rumors at the time and some others from each country for the same reason that the Uzumaki Clan helped them in one form or another. Those Countries and their forces who did attack sieged the clan with numbers near 30 thousand. It is unknown how the battle went but we do know that the siege lasted for a whole week with the Uzumaki Clan fighting the whole entire time. The results was that your Clan was brought to near extinction but in exchange they had completely wiped the enemy to every last enemy and the civilians from Uzu were safe at Konoha which was the time it took for a civilian to travel from Uzu to Konoha" the man sighed sadly at the memories.

"It was at that time we realised there was something wrong and by the time the first of the refugees told us what happened, a giant symbol of the clan appeared in the sky shown to all nations and countries declaring the last of the Uzumaki and the enemies that attacked them. And by that time Iwa was already attacking us which admittedly distracted us from our ally's plight" he grimaced.

"W-What…happened then?" Naruto asked trying to consume all of the information the Hokage just told them. His Clan was peaceful and were allied to Konoha. He had a connection to a place now where he could call home besides Konoha.

His Clan was powerful; powerful enough that other NATIONS had to team up to beat them and even then they left no survivors in the end. Naruto now knew he had to get stronger to not disgrace his clan.

"At that time Iwa had an uneasy relationship with Kumo, Suna and Konoha and took the chance when the Uzumaki Clan gone to attack us in full scale starting the war. That was the beginning of the Third Shinobi War; a mere 4 years after the end of the Second and eventually Suna fought against Iwa with us as allies while we dragged Kumo and Mizu whom were weakened due to the attack into the war as well. I believe the Bloodline purge happened around that time as well seeing the Mizukage needed someone to blame for the failure of the attack against Uzu" the Hokage said with a stern hard face, "We did not let those involved unpunished though unfortunately Iwa took the honour of killing the Third Raikage sending 10 thousand Shinobi to attack Kumo. That bastard died defending his home for 3 days and nights alone against that army but he still died in the end."

Naruto nodded with the revision of the history that he got while using Shadow Clones. Everything happened the way the old man said it did except that parts of how the fall of his Clan was the ultimate trigger.

Rubbing his throat due to talking too much at once, he took at the blonde boy who seemed to be thinking of something. He waited his time; yes he had to. This amount of information about your own family was enough to overwhelm anyone.

"Jiji…" Naruto started to say, "Do you have any scrolls from my clan?"

Ah, of course he would ask that. Indeed he had many scrolls to which were saved from the destruction of Uzu but it was common knowledge to certain people that the bulk of the knowledge were sealed up still in Uzu. Furthermore he felt that Naruto shouldn't get certain scrolls which contained forbidden jutsus for his safety.

Now to tell them that or not….?

"Jiji…please…" Naruto gave him his puppy eyes which instantly destroyed any defences the old man had. He owed the boy this…at least this.

"Yes I do Naruto…" The old Hokage sighed, "However there are two things you need to know before I give you them."

Naruto nodded.

"The first is that while there are some scrolls in Konoha, most of them are still located in Uzu where only a blood relative of the clan can get in. The second is that there are scrolls which I have which I will not give you due to the nature of the content that are strictly forbidden. I believe you do not want to know how to seal something by sacrificing your soul to the Shinigami right?"

Naruto shook his head quickly as the old man smiled. Getting up and taking a few scrolls out he gave them to Naruto saying, "Most of these scrolls involve Fuinjutsu solely but I understand that your Clan had a Kenjutsu style they liked to use. I would recommend you only try it out when you are more experienced with Fuinjutsu since it heavily relates to that."

"Hai!" Naruto shouted before burst out of the door back to his apartment to learn as much as he could. He finally had something he was supposed to do; something that connected him to family! This was the best day of his life.

To the point he didn't see a weary old man sighing for not telling him that those scrolls belonged to his mother and that she was a survivor from the clan compared to the unknown some, shattered around the Elemental Countries.

* * *

Citing what Hokage-jiji said about his Clan, he made sure to memorise it all completely in order to always connect to them.

However that also meant knowing how they fell. Iwa attacked the land of Fire which drew the attention of Konoha to prepare a war in that direction.

However at the same time Kumo and Mizu went to attack Uzu at the same time. Searching through the list of reasons it was most likely due to Uzu; his Clan dominating the sea trade routes at those areas completely forcing them to act for their survival.

After Uzu was destroyed along with the armies that were sent there; the armies of Kumo and Mizu took a huge hit weakening them enough for Konoha to fight them as well.

With Suna at their side, Konoha fought against the forces of Iwa. Seeing their allies destroyed by Kumo and Mizu; Konoha fought them as well spreading their forces out.

With Kumo weakened enough; Iwa sent an army to destroy Kumo but ended up losing a 10 000 men army to the Raikage which led to his death. With the attack on Uzu causing a large gap in Mizu; they had a hard time against Konoha and needed someone to blame.

And that someone were the bloodline users. And thus the Civil War of Mizu began.

The Third Shinobi War was a clusterfuck of all sides attacking each other with the exception of Konoha and Suna as well as Kumo and Mizu since they were allied during the war; at least at the beginning for the latter.

Naruto was not a vengeful person.

If he was then he would've attacked the village a long time ago instead of mere pranks. Those pranks aside from entertainment part training were a way to show that he would _harm them_ if he wanted to.

It was to make a point.

* * *

Sending a Shadow Clone for training with his team instead of himself-they knew what they had to do; Naruto created a total of 10 Shadow Clones along with the usual 50 other Shadow Clones that worked on the Leaf Exercise, Tree Climbing, Water Walking, Taijutsu Katas and forming his Shadow Clone Taijutsu Style and sent them off.

Bit by bit Naruto was expanding the number of clones he was using. Although he had the ability to mass produce clones on a higher level; what he found was that the less Clones he used; generally the more they last in the end without needing to be replaced.

By sending only 50 Clones he didn't need to interact with them or send more clones for the entire day compared to constantly replacing and instructing 500 or more Shadow Clones.

With the ones that were left behind, they all started to read the scrolls in front of them with a couple comparing the information to the ones they had about Fuinjutsu from the library. It was natural which one was more detailed and easier to understand.

But before that…

"I have to learn calligraphy?!" Naruto was shocked when such a boring subject was brought up.

However reading on he understood why it was important. "So the symbols are like the ingredients, the way you combine them are like how you cooks them and your brush stocks determines the quality of the ingredients as well as how well done it is cooked…"

No one would want to compare the work of an amateur to the works of a master like Teuchi. Obviously the ingredients were wasted on the former and any Ramen below perfect was blasphemy to his eyes.

"So Fuinjutsu is like making Ramen…" Naruto noted though some people would find it strange on WHY such a statement was in a scroll about Fuinjutsu especially one from the famed Uzumaki Clan known for Fuinjutsu; not that he cared as this just made it easier for him to understand.

Naruto took out a brush, ink and a blank piece of paper and copied a basic symbol that directs Chakra in one direction. Without anything else with it, nothing will happen but Naruto wanted to see at what level were his writing skills.

"No…damn…there are too many mistakes" he muttered looking at the piece of paper. While the general shape of the symbol was correct, there were places where there were too much ink and others where there was too little. Plus his brush stroke was a bit off.

Holding his head in frustration Naruto screamed mentally, "DAMNIT! I HAVE TO ADD BETTER CALLIGRAPHY INTO THE THINGS I NEED TO LEARN?!'

He sighed, thinking of how much it would cost him to buy all the ink to use on this project.

However he remembered Shadow Clones copied what he carried so as long as he had ink on him when he used the Jutsu; the clones would get them as well.

But there was one thing he needed to decide now.

"How many clones do I make for this?"

But then he realised he was ridiculous. While he held back on using Shadow Clones; considering he didn't want to focus in one area too much he could just make more and more Shadow Clones to quicken when he learnt. However Naruto grew faster with a one track mind.

He needed to work on several things; so instead of focusing on multiple tasks at once with Shadow Clones he could use Shadow Clones on one or two things at once to get the maximum effect sooner.

'Yeah…I don't know what I was thinking…I should've done this before. That way I would've mastered even Water Walking by now' he thought, 'so…right now I need to get better calligraphy. I can focus partly on that for a while. But of the 50 other Shadow Clones out there…plus the 10 that are reading up on the clan's scrolls…'

Even though he wanted to not get TOO powerful with the help of the Time Loop; there was no need to hold back at all.

Grinning Naruto made the cross sign and shouted, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof Poof Poof…

A total of 20 Shadow Clones which his apartment barely held were formed in the room.

Waving his arm he instructed them, "Right! Make sure you practise a lot on calligraphy! I want to be able to use Fuinjutsu by the end of this Time Loop!"

"YOSH!" All 20 Shadow Clones cried as once as they worked taking out brushes and ink while the other Shadow Clones reading Funjutsu moved over for them.

"Right…now I need to get to the other Shadow Clones…"

Meanwhile Naruto went to the personal training area where his previous Shadow Clones that he made earlier worked.

Making a Shadow Clone and dispelling it; those Clones knew what he was thinking and all stopped what they were doing before waiting for his instructions even if they already knew his thoughts until then.

"All of you dispel! I'll make a fresh patch after you do."

The Clones popped and thus at the same time gave him their memories…Naruto grunted feeling the pain of a massive amount of memories rushing through his head. Luckily they dispelled every hour else the headache would've been a lot worse.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" he called onto the Jutsu again before commanding them to get back to what they were doing. He however did make any of the Shadow Clones work on Water Walking yet…

Now to make a LOT more for to get Water Walking down quickly…

"Multi-Shadow Clone jutsu!" he cried creating a full 100 Shadow Clones at once.

While these Shadow Clones wouldn't last that long compared to the usual ones, they would quickly gain experience for him.

Moving over to the nearby lake and river, he shouted, "Right! Get onto Water Walking! I want this down by the day ends!"

"YOSH BOSS!" the Shadow Clones all shouted at once while charging to the water sources.

And around a third of them directly fell into the water on the first step causing him to facepalm a bit.

His Clones were sometimes really stupid charing in like that…wait didn't that mean he would charge into the water like that? He wasn't that much of an idiot right…?

Looking at the rest of the clones, around half of them were ankle deep into the water meaning they had some control and power but it wasn't enough. The other half were stumbling into the water or barely standing on the water with great difficulty.

Naruto waited his clones worked for a full 10 minutes not doing anything but watching since he didn't want to get wet before shouting, "Right! Those who are still standing dispel!"

The Clones did just that and the rest of them got the memories of being able to either stand ankle deep on the water or barely over it.

By the, only a fraction; a tenth of the clones dispelled with that requirement. Creating another 10 Shadow Clones to add back into the mix he commanded them back to the Water Walking exercise.

This time after 10 minutes almost a tenth of the Shadow Clones were able to stand over the water for 10 minutes excluding those ankle deep in the water or in the water literally of course.

Naruto dispel those Clones as well and made more and repeated the activity.

After an hour repeat of this which meant that Naruto was creating a VERY large amount of Shadow Clones; almost all the Shadow Clones were able to stand over the water for 10 minutes which only meant they needed to increase the time they had to stand over the water to make more progress.

Thus Naruto wen with distance now making to run for a certain distance before refreshing the Shadow Clones each time; Naruto was able by the end of the day was able to use Water Walking to a good enough level that his Chakra Control increased to High Genin.

* * *

The rest of the Time Loop went as standard as Naruto used this method to increase the speed of his training.

After excluding a small number of Shadow Clones which were 10 each for a variety of training; Naruto made a large number of Shadow Clones at once with the remainder of his Chakra (Usually around 100 for less headache) to focus on a sole activity.

Thanks to this, Naruto was able to get his Calligraphy good enough for Fuinjutsu in two weeks while he spent the remainder of the 2 weeks alternating on working on basic seals or making his Calligraphy more precise for extra effect as well as his writing speed.

* * *

 _Checkpoint 3: Loop 2 End (Total Loops: 54)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

This part of the story is heavily inspired by 'This Time as a Namikaze' about how the Uzumaki Clan fell.

Funny how the Clan of the MC of an entire series was kinda glossed over compared to the Uchiha Clan. What we know about the Uzumaki Clan is really really limited to the point where there is debates on where they were located and when they fell and _how_ they fell.

The Uzumaki Clan was a branch of the Senju Clan though we know neither _when_ or _why_ they did so.

All we know is that they were located at what is later to be the Wave Country else _north_ of them due to horrible geography by Kishimoto, they were either destroyed at _before, during_ or _after_ the Second Shinobi War but also after the First and before the Third and that they were damn good at Fuinjutsu.

Possibly why Fuinjutsu was generally a minor thing in the series if _they_ were the leading experts in that area.

Lastly was that apparently several Countries/Nations sent a combined Force to kill them.

The problem of all of this is that the Uzumaki Clan at Uzu fell after Kushina got to Konoha and became a Jinchuriki. There's a two year period until the Second Shinobi War and at least 10 years before the Third happened and if the Uzumaki Clan fell then, it was at that period.

Logically after the Clan fell, Nagato with his parents goes to Ame.

But there's one problem.

Nothing in Canon _actually_ says that those particular Uzumakis went to Ame because of the rest of the Clan fell. As there is _nothing_ in Canon that doesn't say that Nagato's parents went to Ame before the rest of the Clan fell. Seeing how they died so easily, they while Uzumakis were civilians.

Therefore it _doesn't_ matter _why_ Nagato's family went to Ame at that time since it might as well be a plot devise to connect Nagato to Naruto more easily. Hell I'm pretty sure Kishimoto pulled the fact that Nagato was in fact an Uzumaki out _just_ for _that_!

Which leads to another problem with the Uzumaki Clan.

 _When_ did they fall?

It could be before the Second Shinobi War leading to Nagato ending up in Ame.

During the Second Shinobi War where enemies took advantage of Konoha state at war to take down an ally of theirs.

Or after the Second Shinobi War which in this case ironically leads to the Third Shinobi War.

The reason _why_ they fell is generally not important here compared to when they fell.

I find that a _really_ reason is needed to combine forces to wipe out a particular clan whether to spark a war else diverge forces while they are currently in war. Their skills in Fuinjutsu was apparently feared, just like the Hyuga's Juken, the Uchiha's Sharingan and so on.

Doesn't mean _that_ was the reason they wiped out the Uzumaki Clan as far as they were concerned.

'This Time as a Namikaze' used how _powerful_ the Uzumaki Clan was in general to make other Countries and Nations afraid enough to attack them. I went for another reason instead.

Economy and Trade.

While I based the Uzumaki Clan's fall being the trigger to the Third Shinobi War, I did it because the Clan overall gained too much power for something so small compared to the multiple other Nations.

A small island of a country taking over the Sea Trade that once belonged to 2 Major Nations and several Countries near the coast line was reason enough to attack don't you think?

 **Please Note that your Reviews may not currently show due to a system error on the site or something. Other authors are having the same issue as well. I sure got confused on why I had 20~ reviews and only 12 showed up.**


	16. Chapter 15 - How to Train your Body

**Chapter 15: How to Train your Body**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto decided this was the last Time Loop or this checkpoint the moment he woke up again.

The reason was simply because he had enough Fuinjutsu ability to copy the Resistance Seal which by nature was simple enough but had a LOT of safeties for the user's benefits.

As usually Naruto used his Shadow Clones to continue his extra training using a total of 100 Shadow Clones now that he was comfortable enough with the headaches that came with dispelling enough of them at once that he didn't flinch…that much.

Half of those Shadow Clones were working on combining the Leaf Exercise with Tree Climbing or Water Walking to increase his Chakra Control which he admitted he needed another way to rapidly improve it.

The other half were split into two groups; one was for his Taijutsu which he; the original would be also working on to regain the muscle memories and the second was for his study in Fuinjutsu and speeding up his writing speed as much as possible. He had heard some of his Clans could rapidly write seals in battle; he intended to be able to do that as well at one point…eventually.

When he reached the training grounds where the rest of his team was at; Naruto made a Shadow Clone and instructed it to go there instead of him while he did something else for the 3 hours Kakashi was going to spend being late.

'Now what should I do…?' he wondered; he had a large number of Shadow Clones doing thing so he was going to be updates of his progress with them eventually at bulk which would stop him from training.

He could start training his body but he preferred to do so with that resistance seal Kakashi would give him.

But that was in three hours.

'Guess I can mediate a bit…that helps with bringing my Spiritual Energies up…even if it increases my Chakra reserves even higher' Naruto sat down and started to breath in and out like before calming all the way down to seek what was inside of him.

Diving deeper; Naruto saw his Chakra and it's entirely with Spiritual and Physical energies combining into it. He saw Yin and Yang Chakra being unbalanced as always…wait. What was that? Quickly scanning through; he saw that there was something that was causing his Yang Chakra is swell up and increase.

How did he not see this before?

Looking through for what seemed to be an hour examining his Chakra; especially his Yang Chakra extensively, eventually Naruto saw the same flash of Chakra which quickly combined into his own. The Chakra that came through into his was…red.

'Meaning Kyuubi' he shivered at the thought and why its Chakra was going into him.

Was this intentional?

Or was this by design? It would honestly explain why his Chakra levels were stupidly large and his Yang Chakra being forced to grow that much faster would explain how his stamina and endurance was insane.

In all Naruto could not do anything about the Kyuubi's Chakra seeping in his Chakra System though it would also explain why his Chakra Control sucked like hell aside from having too large Chakra reserves too soon for his age.

If this was the case then he would never have perfect Chakra Control with his Yang Chakra ever increasing. However…with these Time Loops he could increase his Yin Chakra up as much as possible to balance it.

Yes; that would be another thing he needed to do later…which meant he needed to increase his thinking power. Yeah…that was going to take a while which he didn't want to wait for even with a seemingly unlimited amount of time.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto started to which Kakashi let no indication he was even remotely shocked for him going up from hiding to talk to him, "Is there a good way to increase the speed and power of my body quickly besides working really hard."

"Hmm?" Kakashi took a glance at his student from his orange book, "Why do you ask Naruto? You just become a Genin."

Naruto sighed and said, "That's the point. I need to become stronger faster but the normal way will take too long. Sasuke is way stronger than me I want to catch up so I at least down drag the team down like Sakura."

It had been a VERY long time since he called her 'Sakura-chan' and some time ago since he called her 'Sakura-san'. Simply 'Sakura' was short enough for him since it kinda rolled off his tongue better than Haruna.

"So you don't want to get stronger than Sasuke?" his teacher asked to which Naruto snorted remembering how he trained with Sasuke; will train with Sasuke to get stronger.

There was a clear line between Genin and Chunin and it would probably take months for him to get to that level; enough time to the Chunin Exams at least.

"Sasuke is the rookie of the year for a reason" Naruto started, "His power, speed and tactical abilities are already Top Genin level and that's with him not awakening his Sharingan and adding on his Fire Ninjutsus. Even I will have a hard time catching up let alone surpassing him in a few months."

"That is true but what about later on?" his teacher pressed on to which Naruto actually thought about it.

What comes after the Time Loops in which he comes out a different person than anyone else…if there was an end to it? But in a matter of physical months…Sasuke would still be physically stronger than him.

"In terms of Ninjutsu I would definitely beat Sasuke with raw power alone…but with stuff like Genjutsu he will always beat me since I suck at controlling my Chakra" Naruto counted with his fingers, "Taijutsu wise it depends on whether I can use Shadow Clones or not; with I'll win but individually he'll win…but in the end it all depends on our physical bodies and what our limits are. No matter what Ninjutsu I can use; it doesn't matter if I can't hit him of he's too fast for me."

Turning to his Sensei, "Which is why I wish to get stronger physically and while I'm at it, I want to get stronger in Taijutsu as well. Next to Genjutsu and my Chakra Control; it's the main thing I'm having issues with."

The last bit was a half lie ever since he trained with Gai and Lee those Loops ago…but what he didn't know didn't hurt him.

"I see…I know a few people who could help…though…perhaps.…" Kakashi said which made Naruto a bit relief since he would train with Gai and Lee again…not that he didn't before even when Kakashi didn't refer to them.

All he had to do was train in a place they went pass by with their morning 'jog' and they would prompt him to train with them.

However Naruto still wanted that resistance seal!

"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto spoke up again, "Is there _anything_ else that would speed my training up? Something that could say make it harder for me to move in general without the use of weights?"

Kakashi did not know how or why; not so much on why but how; that Naruto knew of Resistance seals but it was indeed a good training method. Perhaps he could give one to Sasuke as well…god knows that avenger wants power more quickly no matter the cost. He conveniently forgot about Sakura as well….

"Okay…but wait for Sasuke and Sakura to finish first okay?" Kakashi said to his student who beamed at him which made him happy to see his sensei's son showing a true face of happiness instead of a fake mask.

"Sure the one that's over there is a Shadow Clone either way" He pointed at the Trio doing basic teamwork exercises together with not much success and a lot of frustration. An eyebrow was raised but no questions were asked before they came over.

"WHY IS NARUTO-BAKA OVER THERE?!" Sakura shrieked in close distance, mere metres away from him when she FINALLY noticed him unfortunately.

He had to learn a hearing filtering method…probably from Kakashi-sensei since he didn't seem to be affected at all.

"Mare mare, he has always been here" Kakashi reassure his pink haired student, "Now Naruto's talk with me made me remember some old training methods which I used when I was younger; part of it was the reason I became Jonin at your tender age."

"…."

There was silence between Sasuke and Sakura with the former thinking of how this man can help him gain power to kill Itachi while the latter doubting what her Sensei said. Naruto rolled his eyes at their reactions and most likely thoughts.

"Anyway this method is quite rare since you need a person who is a Fuinjutsu expert like myself or in my case my Sensei who was a Fuinjutsu Master" Kakashi continued.

"Sensei" Sakura shot her hand up, "Who was your sensei?"

Taking a glance to Sakura and to Naruto and back to Sakura, "Minato Namikaze otherwise later known as the Yellow Flash and the Yondaime Hokage."

"…."

This time along with Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto was also stunned silent. THAT man was their Sensei's sensei?! I was no wonder why he was as powerful as he was with that man as a teacher…

"No need for more personal questions, I need to explain what the seal my Sensei designed for my team to use and for you all to use if you want to" Kakashi made that last note as well, "The Resistance Seal is basic in concept but very hard to get right with dire consequences if done incorrectly. The Seal basically restricts you in the same way as if you were moving underwater; very slow and with lots of effort."

Naruto nodded, he knew this much.

"However to do so without…crushing you since you can't apply the same force one every part of your body…like the pressure on your arm being the same as your eye for example…." The Trip shuddered at the thought of what could happen, "Is very difficult since you need to adjust and adjust the seal so it doesn't hurt you aside from the strain."

Making a pointed look Kakashi also added, "Oh and there IS limits to this since the body only take so much strain. The limit for adult males is around 5x the resistance as normal while adult females can take 4x the resistance. For children like you all, you must never go over 3x since it WILL hinder your physical growth. Even rapid regeneration cannot help you there."

"Are there people out there who can endure more strain than 5x the resistance Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Yes" Kakashi nodded, "The Akimichi Clan who have larger bodies due to their Clan's jutsus consuming calories can possibly go to 6x or even 7x depending on the…size of the person. Also there are people who have larger muscles who can endure more and those with special body types or bloodlines who can as well."

Naruto made a note to ask if he was such a person that was included in that list…though it seemed either way he was stuck at most 3x no matter what he did.

"Oh, I'll teach you how to release the seal after I put it on you. Basically you'll experience a speed boost compared to before due to nothing restraining you anymore but you will as a result lose all control of your body in exchange. Every day, release the seal and adjust to the speed for half an hour so you CAN fight without the seal on."

Seeing that his students got the message he continued.

"Anyway I'm going to warn you all. If you choose to take up the seal, it will make things a lot harder to do. Simple things like walking or picking up things will be more difficult than before and it will take you weeks if not months to get used to the feeling of being crushed with weight all over" he warned. Naruto noticed that Sakura looked a bit pale.

With an eye-smile Kakashi then asked, "So…who will take one?"

* * *

After questioning some parts of the seal to which Kakashi was a bit surprised that Naruto was talking about Fuinjutsu; which he played off as being interested on how it worked; Naruto got reused to the seal since this wasn't the first time he had it on him.

Now he knew how to make one but he didn't know how to adjust it…he would have to ask Kakashi later about that as well if he forgot...

As expected, Sakura didn't take up the seal making the excuse that she was training hard already and didn't need it. Sasuke immediately demanded it on his body since it was a way to get stronger faster. After Naruto got his seal, Kakashi adjusted the seal on 1.5x which while wasn't too bad; hindered them quite badly in movement and speed.

In all, the best way to adjust with the seal was to get used to them as fast as possible which meant lots and lots of physical activity; which was what Gai and Lee were for. After a month of this; Naruto may be able to get to 1.75x with the seal to train even harder. The 'levels' the seal represented were how much their speed in particular would increase without it on. 2x would make them twice as fast and 3x would make them three times as fast.

Kakashi had no doubt that Naruto would sooner or later get to 3x with the seal and of he was as fast as a normal Chunin with Gai's help with the seal on…

Really too many people underestimate Taijutsu and instead focus more on Ninjutsu which was glaring in their faces or the more subdue Genjutsu. A power punch or kick was as likely to cripple or outright kill you at the same rate as Ninjutsu. Gai and Lee were a frightening example of how Taijutsu could be turned into a deadly art as powerful as some of the more powerful Ninjutsus out there.

And it was a thing that Naruto especially needed to train in due to the Time Loop often reset his body back into a state where he was too weak.

He wasn't lying when he said that Sasuke would continue to beat him due to their bodies' differences. Even if he could outlast the Sasuke, he was simply weaker and slower than him and would end up like a punching bag by the end of the spar.

Kakashi had already told Naruto about Gai and Lee and he would start training with them tomorrow.

He would have to tell Gai about his new student which would both excite him to no end. The only reason why Sasuke was not included with Naruto in this training was that Naruto HAS the stamina to keep up with the green duo.

In terms of body type, Sasuke was like him; someone with high speed and power but will wear themselves out quicker than normal as a result. Naruto was the opposite with glaringly high stamina and endurance built for punishment.

Kakashi had little doubt that if they lived long enough; Naruto would be the more frightening one even against Sasuke with a Sharingan.

Now…let's see how Ayame tries to seduce Yamato into paying for her lessons…giggle.

* * *

Like before both Gai and Lee immediately accepting Naruto on training with them. They were especially more happy when they found out that Kakashi placed a resistance seal on him to allow him to train even harder.

"WHAT YOUTH MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" Gai shouted into the background, "TO ENCOURAGE MORE YOUTHFULNESS BRINGS YOU TO BURN WITH THE SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH!"

"YES GAI-SENSEI!" Lee shouted with tears in his eyes as well.

Naruto seatdropped seeing the two men cry, shout and hug each other before they came back to their senses and paid attention to him. He really wanted two things from the training of these two.

The first was to build up his body's strength and seed and the second was to further train his Taijutsu.

He had long since replaced his Shadow Clones and watched them struggle to train as normal with the seal on. Good; they would give him experience when he did those things on his own. His Taijutsu in particular suffered quite a bit with himself slowing down in too many ways and this training would help him a lot.

"My youthful friend" Lee suddenly spoke up, "With the seal on, have you been eating correctly?"

Confused about what Lee just said, Naruto replied, "The usual I think. I know we have to eat three times as much as civilians and I've been eating a good deal of meat and fruits when I can but that's around once a week since the Orphan fund ended when I became a Genin and D-ranks don't give much cash. Plus most of the time I feel hungry like my body needs more food. That's why I ate a LOT of Ramen since they filled me up and costed little."

Both Gai and Lee looked each other grimly seeing the plight of their new training partner.

Grabbing his shoulders, Gai said seriously, "Please tell us if you are in need. Food is especially important since without a proper amount of proteins from meats your muscles cannot develop properly. This will stunt your growth."

Naruto opened and closed his mouth several times taking in this information. Was that the reason why he was so…short?

Ramen was the food of Gods but they didn't really have much in meats or fruits especially. Damn! As much as he didn't want to; he had to cut back on Ramen…shudder.

But with the issue of money…even if he didn't get scammed with his Transformation Jutsu; he still didn't have a lot of money and D-rank missions only paid 5000-50000 Ryo at most each. Besides being boring and more like chores, they pay only barely enough for a Genin to live by-and with Naruto's consumption needs; he needed to eat even more; three times as normal Ninjas which meant nine times more than normal civilians.

No wonder why he was so short; his body needed way more to maintain itself and he suspected a certain demon in him was the reason why he didn't die yet.

"Gai-sensei" Naruto called, "Is there a way to do more D-rank missions?"

"Why do you wish for more youthful missions my youthful friend?" Gai asked not getting the point.

Naruto shook his head with a smile, "Since I need more food as you said; I need more money. And the only way to do that is to do more missions but I bet my team with Kakashi won't do more than three a week and that amount of money won't give me enough to eat…especially now."

"WHAT AN UNYOUTHFUL SITUATION YOU ARE PLACED IN!" Guy cried.

"YES! TO BEAR THE BURDEN OF TRYING TO FIND YOUR SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH AND YET PREVENTED IN SUCH A WAY!" Lee also started crying.

"YOSH! WE WILL HELP YOU EVEN IF WE NEED TO DO THOSE MISSIONS WITH YOU!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

"LEE!"

It took another 5 minutes before they actually got to evaluating what Taijutsu Naruto had without the seal on and to try and improve on it which actually impressed Gai to a certain extent. He knew this would happen since it WAS Gai who helped him before.

Seeing this he had only one thing to do now…to ask Kakashi if he could complete extra missions and without the team if he could; Naruto didn't want to drag three extra people with him if he could.

Plus he had a pretty good plan on completing a lot of D-ranks to fill his account with money.

* * *

A day passed and Kakashi brought his team for their first D-rank mission.

It didn't matter that it seemed that Sasuke was struggling more than Naruto with the Resistance Seal on him. He had suspected that with the rapid healing the Kyuubi provided Naruto along with his own Uzumaki heritage; that his blonde student's muscles would grow quicker than normal.

'This is good…giving him the resistance seal was the correct thing to do' Kakashi thought. With this, his Sensei's son would grow stronger more quickly and the day since he would be able to tell him about his parents would come closer.

He had a picture album planned for that occasion.

For him who was the last of his team and Naruto who was his last connection to his Sensei; that was something they would later share.

* * *

Sasuke on the other hand was struggling with moving properly.

Every time he even moved, it felt like the aftermath of him training too much; which he actually did but that was not the point. This amount of pain was nothing compared to what Itachi forced onto him. He would get stronger than this!

The raven haired boy watched as his blond team-mate; the dobe; Naruto act as if he was used to this amount of strain on his body. What did that dobe have that he; the Uchiha did not have. Scowling Sasuke stopped himself from thinking too much on that. The dobe's words did help him since it led to their Sensei giving them the seal in the first place.

Plus it was either tolerating the boy or being more like the fangirl trying and failing to attack him on multiple times. It did help that Naruto stopped being annoying and talked to him on ways to get stronger; some of which he had to try later on.

It was one more step to getting enough power to kill Itachi.

But on the other hand the Fangirl…what's her name? Was irritating beyond anything he could believe.

THAT was the top Kunoichi of the year? The one called Ino was equally a Fangirl but she HAS Jutsus to back her up. Hell he would have preferred the stuttering Hyuuga who had a crush on Naruto to be on the team.

She was that useless.

He had seen the looks his Sensei gave Sakura when she tried to attack Naruto…and failed. Such things should not happen on a team and…sooner or later she would be kicked out of the team because of it.

It was only what action that could cause a good enough excuse for that to happen.

* * *

Sakura was not having a good time. Aside from the fact that their Sensei was forcing torture onto them in the form of jogging every time they meet up for training; he was forcing time off from her to talk to Sasuke-kun!

After finally getting in the same team as him; she expected nothing to stand in her way to date and eventually marry him! They would have three kids, all of them having his hair and face with her eyes. It would be a PERFECT ending!

But Naruto-baka and their lazy late and useless Sensei would get in her way every time that she wanted to talk to him. All they talked about was something as useless as training. HA! They were Genin; Ninjas now. What use was training so quickly when they had time to become stronger when she got her man with a ring on her finger in marriage?

She had tried to attack Naruto-baka in getting in her way but none of it worked. Each time he would do something to make her look bad in front of Sasuke-kun! Even her Sensei didn't let Naruto-baka be put into his place.

When she marries Sasuke-kun and her parents take their places on the council even if they didn't have interest in it; they would be punished! Nothing stands in the way of her love.

* * *

Ignoring the glares that the villagers gave him; they weren't stupid to do anything with his oh so famous Sensei and Jonin as well as the 'Last Uchiha' with him; Naruto walked with his team to the Hokage Tower. He waited patiently when Kakashi got the mission with the cat…

And had to endure another 2 hours of catching the damn thing with Sasuke and himself trying to catch the demon in cat skin with Sakura uselessly cheering Sasuke on instead of trying to help out. He was about his limits now and he wanted to get what he wanted which was clearance to do D-ranks on his own.

So after the cat was delivered and Naruto happily watched it to be tortured before escaping, Kakashi was about to dismiss the team when he asked, "Kakashi-sensei, is it possible for me to individually take more missions on my own?"

"NARUTO-BAKA! WHY ARE YOU FORCING MORE MISSIONS ONTO US?!" Sakura shrieked in all her fury. Her hair was in a bad shape and her hands would soon be rough if she didn't treat them soon.

"Sakura-san, please be quiet" the Hokage ordered silencing everyone in the room at that time; even the other team that just came in as well before continuing, "Naruto why do you need more missions? And why did you request to do them alone?"

"You know how Kakashi-sensei allowed me to train with his…colleague right?" Naruto looked at Kakashi who promptly said, "I requested for Gai to help him with his Taijutsu a bit."

Nodding, the Hokage allowed Naruto to speak.

"Yeah…Gai-sensei pretty much told me that my metabolism rate is so high that I need to eat a lot more even by Ninjas standards where we need to eat on average three times as much as civilians. Because of that I'm lacking money to maintain my training" he explained.

"What are you talking about Naruto-baka. You shouldn't need to eat that much!" Saskura chided ignoring several facts that Naruto said clearly.

Ignoring what Sakura said since he would need to correct it later Kakashi said, "I understand...you want me and Hokage-sama to give permission for you to complete D-ranks on your own because of this reason."

"More or less" Naruto shrugged, "Though I bet that you have a surplus of D-rank missions either way and want someone to at least take a couple more out of your hands."

It took another couple of questions and answers to which pointed to how Naruto would be able to do these missions and whether or not that Kakashi would have to supervise him.

However Naruto pointed out that Gai would agree to help when he had the time and he really didn't need supervision after doing a certain mission once already.

With a heavy sigh where Sasuke and Sakura were dismissed since this didn't concern them, the Hokage said, "Okay…it is agreed that you are allowed to do D-rank missions that will be recorded on your own with a few conditions. The first is that Kakashi or Gai needs to supervise you on the more…delicate missions. The second is that you need to actually complete them and write a report on those missions."

"Report?"

"Yes, report. Each mission no matter how small or large needs to have a report on it. It is to keep track of every mission that goes on this village and something that your Sensei; in this Kakashi has to do all the time. For D-rank; you just need to give a summary along with the completed mission scroll that had been verified to say you completed the mission" the Hokage replied, "Are there any other questions?"

"…."

Naruto thought about it and he had one that had been there for a long time now.

"What's the point of D-rank missions?"

* * *

 **A/N:**

Not much to write here but about the diet of Ninjas.

While nothing in Canon actually says that a Ninja needs to eat more food than say a common civilian, everything seems to point out that they eat a lot more than normal to sustain themselves especially in intense training involving lots and Chakra use.

Wave Arc where Naruto and Sasuke were stuffing themselves with food is one example.

In contrast, Sakura remained _weak_ in Part 1 of the series until she steps up her training with Tsunade and possibly eating more food. No offense to Sakura but she would've remained a stick in Part 2 if she didn't eat more. I mean her thighs are a lot thicker than normal due to the muscles there (Strangely enough, no women in Naruto seemed to develop noticeable muscles...)

Which leads to some Fanfics determining that Ninjas needing to eat 3~ times more than civilians to sustain themselves in training.

I find this quite logical if you think about it (Aside from the number which could easily be 10 times higher than a civilian for all I know)

Ninjas are basically those with high metabolisms thanks to the fact of Chakra (Look at Naruto and Ramen. THAT is NOT healthy even for Ninjas). In all, you can say that by using Chakra, you are burning up your resources in your body. The Akimichi Clan takes this and made Jutsus out of that fact.

The more you burn, the more Chakra you use, the more food you need to supply the energy to not end up as sticks every time you come out of a battle.

However if muscles and also Chakra reserves recover at the same rate as a civilian then most Ninjas would only be able to battle once every few days at most. A faster metabolism is literally required for Ninjas to live to see another battle.

Then there's Naruto.

Orphan and probably can't cook seeing he lives off Instant Ramen.

I can easily say that a diet full of Ramen does NOT mean well for him. In fact, I say that such a diet is actually hindering him quite a bit since you need a lot more than what Ramen has to grow which also means that Naruto's growth as a Ninja is stunted as well as his height.

Therefore Naruto eating healthier is a good way to bring his physical growth growing faster than before.

He is here, now getting what his body needs to actually sustain itself without limiting other factors in his body to keep him alive.

Plus, do you actually think he could've grown one bit during the time skip of Jiraiya didn't manage to stuff Naruto's mouth with other foods other than Ramen?

That's a good explanation on why Naruto has such a noticeable growth spurt.


	17. Chapter 16 - D-rank Purpose and Zabuza

**Chapter 16: D-rank Purpose and Zabuza**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

The moment he asked that Kakashi actually groaned while the Hokage chuckled at the question which left Naruto very confused on what was happening since it was a simple enough question to be answered.

"What?" Naruto was looking wearily between his Sensei and Hokage-jiji, "Did I say something wrong?" he asked.

Shaking his head the Hokage continued to chuckle saying, "Nothing wrong with what you said. That question had been on the mouths of many young shinobi and I believe many have forgotten the true purpose of D-ranks."

Puffing out some smoke, the Hokage continued, "As you were taught at the Academy; missions goes from D to A rank with S rank being the exception of being a mission involving high risks, low survival rates and/or vital information. It is only from C rank onwards that young Shinobi could face combat while D-rank missions are ensured to not have any risks."

"I hope it's not to make us do the chores of the entire village on hire" Naruto commented.

"That is actually part of the reason. A ninja should be able to do any mission without complaint or at least keep their grumbling to themselves" shaking his head the Hokage smiled, "But the real reason is to prepare you for C-ranks."

Kakashi was the one who spoke up now, "One of the reasons for D-ranks is to make team-mates of newly formed groups cooperate between each other. If they cannot do that in a simple task then how could they in a serious fight."

"Yes like Kakashi-kun said, cooperation is something that is needed. Teamwork is a core aspect of Konoha which managed to win us all the Shinobi Wars to date. The second reason for D-ranks is actually for the Sensei's sake."

"Huh?" Naruto could not figure out how D-ranks could help them on that.

The Hokage looked at Naruto and answered his unspoken question, "It is to give time. A Sensei can determine any problems in their team in the time it takes for them to go from D-ranks to C-ranks and back. It is to allow them to better know how they will train their team and judging by the Resistance Seals, Kakashi-kun seemed to be doing a good job so far."

Naruto nodded and agreed that without his Sensei's help even though the man was extremely lazy he would not know where to go with his training.

"However there is another reason for specific D-rank missions out there beside chores. Certain D-rank missions are designed to make a Genin get better as a ninja" the Hokage explained, "Missions like babysitting, walking dogs and helping the elderly are designed as something akin to bodyguard missions. In those, teams are split between an attack and defender and if the client gets hit…then it would be the result of your client dying in an actual bodyguard mission."

Naruto's mouth was left open in shock. They actually had such a purpose? Then why did they not do all of this before?! Hell he haven't even heard of teams doing this kind of thing!

But the Hokage continued to explain as if Naruto wasn't thinking rapidly on the nature of those D-rank missions.

"Grocery Shopping missions often give you a certain amount of money to buy and the Genins can keep the spare amount they got from the mission. This D-rank is designed for information gathering which is another skill a ninja needs."

"Package delivery of any kind are similar enough in nature that by doing them Genin are trained in delivering messages in time in sometimes great distances. This is an example of D-ranks that have mission types in the higher ranks."

"Gardening allows for you to identify different plant life and which ones you can eat and which ones are often poisoned or worse. This mission is used to train up your survival skills in the wilderness."

"There are also missions involving the slaughterhouse where you have to work in a place where there is lots of blood and killing. This is to prepare Genin for what could happen in combat with C-rank missions as well as to determine who has the attitude to stay as a ninjas despite all the chaos or not."

"Even catching Tora has a purpose for a reason. Do you think that cat really escapes that often?" the Hokage chuckled, "Despite all belief we let that cat escape to train our Genin in the art of tracking and hinting down targets which is another task a ninja needs to be able to do."

"Furthermore these kinds of missions can be done with parts of a team attacking trying to make the rest of the team fail it while the other part of the team tries to complete it without failing it and stop the plans of the other member(s). And doing these kinds of missions where you take on jobs of civilians will allow you to infiltrate such places much easier without standing out."

Taking out a note, Naruto quickly scribbled the list of missions and what their purpose were which caused the Hokage to smile seeing the dedication Naruto had in his career. He was growing up from a prankster that wanted attention to a fine Shinobi already.

"Jiji" Naruto suddenly said, "What about missions that involve painting, garbage collection and the likes. You haven't explained those yet."

"Oh, those missions are a bit different besides forcing people to work together" Kakashi started to explain, "But they have recently become something along the lines of a chore now due to the nature of the work."

"Indeed" The Hokage mused, "Those missions involve a person's nature transformation skills" which caused some shock in Naruto. He had heard of nature transformation and how a person has an affinity to one of them but nothing else. Not even how to find out which element of the five you have.

"For painting, you use your Chakra to manipulate the water without tools to paint the walls or fence. Too little water and the paint will become stall and too much and it will run off the fence. This is used to train your control water chakra."

"For garbage collection you use wind to blow said items into large piles. Too little and you do nothing and too much and you blow it all away. This is used to train your control over wind chakra.

"For Bakery related missions where you cook bread for the owners with fire, it is to train your control over that fire. Too little and the bread won't cook and too much and it will burn. Naturally this is to train your control over fire chakra."

"For farming, you manipulate the earth in order to till the land or to harvest crops. Doing so will increase your control over earth chakra else you can do them manually for physical effort and training."

"There are also missions which involve fixing electrical wires around the village as well. By channelling lightning chakra into a wire, you can tell whether or not if the wire needs to be fixed. Naturally this is to train your control over lightning chakra."

"However these days, most Jonin-senseis don't bother with such things and its when their students become Chunin that they take such missions to build up their foundations with elemental jutsus."

By the time the Hokage finished his explanation; Naruto also finished writing down what the Hokage said, fully intending to practise what was said in the explanation.

From what he could tell the parts where you split into teams to attack and defend was like pranking. You pass if you stop the prank but if you fall victim to the prank then you lose.

* * *

The month passed and Naruto managed to get the C-rank mission from the Hokage sending them off to Wave again. Rather than just screaming about it, Naruto surprised everyone by logically telling the Hokage on why they should get a C-rank mission. Needless to say, he succeeded though Naruto felt it was more because Kakash was their Sensei and he would protect them.

During the walk where he was pretty much waiting for those two enemy-nin to appear; he recounted what he did in the month and what he achieved.

In 4 weeks with an average of 4-ranks a day with his Shadow Clones on weekdays only, Naruto completed a total of 92 D-rank missions in which 12 of them involved his team. Because of this he made a solid 500K in Ryo which would keep in the good zone for cash for a long time if he didn't spend any of it. The Hokage actually requested at the end when he wanted a C-rank that he would not do any D-ranks without his team since now the village was getting a shortage of D-ranks ironically.

He sniggered at Hokage-jji begging him that time but those reports were a bitch to do.

He sniggered at the fact that he had money to spend now; during the month and the sudden excess gain in cash; Naruto made some improvements to his outfit. While it looked the same, he was now wearing chain-mail underneath it and under the arms and shins were armoured as well to increase defence.

Adding onto this were a total of 3 sealing scrolls which he managed to create with some ease where in them were in order; food, weapons and spare clothes. Because of this he didn't need to wear a backpack and instead hid the scrolls in his outfit. Naruto was not sure on what level he was at with sealing; just that he finished all the basic stuff pretty easily…he would need to later get Hokage-jiji to give his clan's scrolls to him later.

In terms of progress he was also quite happy as well. While his Chakra Control needed months…if not _years_ of work to even get into the Chunin level; the other aspects of the Shinobi he had been working at improved a lot.

His work with the Resistance Seal made him up to his usual speed with the seal on and tuned to 1.75x in strength. Because of this, his speed was actually now around Genin level because of all the physical conditioning which Gai and Lee placed him through. Not bad for a month.

The Physical Transformation Jutsu he had now only made a mist around him for a few moments when he transformed compared to a small explosion of smoke. He had to intentionally make the smoke and mist for the Sexy and Harem Jutsu due to this. He was pretty sure he could do the Jutsu without smoke or mist and without any hand-seals eventually with his constant use of it.

The Substitution Jutsu was also something he worked on, especially when he found out it was easy for him to substitute with his Shadow Clones than other objects in general. The 3 hand-seals he needed before turned into 2 and it only took him a second to prepare the Jutsu compared to 3 seconds before as well.

And finally the Shadow Clone Jutsu which by far was the best and most useful Jutsu he had ever learnt or heard of. When the month started he was at 100 Shadow Clones using them to train but now he was up to 150 Shadow Clones at once with him getting more comfortable with the backlash of memories.

And in battle he could easily make 10 times the amount compared to training if he was really pressed into it. All of this was why Naruto was at least confident that they would make it through the first part against those two enemy-nin.

Oh speaking of which they were about to that point now with that puddle.

'Should I do things similar to last time…? I don't know if Kakashi made it or not…better not' Naruto thought as they passed the puddle. After a good distance, Naruto heard chains rattling around Kakashi and then ripping him apart like before without warning.

Wide eyed at the scene with blood; he almost didn't see that the lumps of flesh turned into pieces of wood.

'So that's how it is…' Naruto narrowed his eyes as the rest of the team plus Tazuna turned to the enemy. He quickly made a Shadow Clone and made it Transform instantly into a rock as he took a couple steps backwards.

"One down" the duo masked ninjas said coldly before charging at him again.

As the claws were about to get him; Sasuke charged in like before pinned the chains onto the nearby tree with a Shuriken and Kunai before kicking the two. The Chains broke off due to the two detaching them from their claws as they charged to Naruto who smirked.

"Two down."

In that moment Naruto turned off his Resistance Seal allowing him to move 75% faster than before; which at this point was almost comparable to Sasuke's speed at the beginning before the training.

Making two hand-seals for the substitution jutsu; Naruto disappeared; replaced by the rock on the ground which was his Shadow Clone from before.

"What?!" the enemy-nin who went to attack him was shocked while the other continued to Tazuna. Clicking his tongue, Sakura was beginning to abandon the old man already after she was recovering from freezing.

'Have to fight two at once…Sasuke may get there in time but I'm not taking any chances!'

Quickly making a cross hand-seal; Naruto called out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" making three Shadow Clones as they all charged from the back of the enemy. Two of the Shadow Clones went to deal with the one who went to attack him while himself and another Shadow Clone went to save Tazuna.

The Two Shadow Clones with Kunai managed to stab the enemy in the back quite literally while disabling them enough to take him down while Naruto and his other Shadow Clone was quite hard pressed trying to get to Tazuna.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" Sasuke shouted from the side moving to fire at the space in between the enemy-nin and their client.

Seeing the stream of small fireballs heading the way where he was going to run at, the man stopped and just in time to allow for Naruto and his Shadow Clone to disable that enemy as well. It was only then that Naruto sensed that Kakashi appearing behind him when he patted his shoulder.

"Good job Sasuke, Naruto. Both of you took down the enemy while protecting the client…Sakura we will need to work with you freezing up in the time of need" Kakashi said firmly while grabbing the two enemy-nin easily and tying them up to a tree.

"Not bad Dobe" Sasuke praised his team-mate a bit on his abilities at least.

"You too Teme" Naruto commented as well seeing Sasuke was actually better than the first time they got through this.

"Sensei…" Sakura muttered shocked, "How did you…you were cut into pieces in front of our eyes!"

"Substitution Jutsu is a wonderful Jutsu to use in these situations" Naruto commented pointing at the cut up pieces of a log.

"SHUT UP NARUTO-BAKA! YOU TRIED TO STEAL SASUKE-KUN'S LIMELIGHT!" she shrieked the moment she hear Naruto and remembered what he did and ignoring what she almost did which no one was commenting on.

"Be quiet Sakura" Kakashi ordered which with change in mood caused her to shut up quite quickly before turning to Tazuna, "Tazuna-san."

"W-What is it?" Tazuna was now sweating not looking at anyone properly.

"I need to talk to you" Kakashi spoke up getting the attention of the team, "These guys are Chunin class missing-nin from the Hidden Mist Village. They are ninjas known to keep on fighting no matter what."

With two missing-nin seemed to have awoken at this point as one of them said, "How did you read our movements?"

"On a sunny day like this when it hasn't rained in days a water puddle shouldn't exist" Kakashi offhandedly explained.

Tazuna looked shocked that Kakashi knew of this but didn't do anything, "Why did you let the brats fight when you knew that?"

"If I had wanted to…I could've killed these two instantly but…" Kakashi glared at Tazuna, "There was something I needed to find out; who the target that these two were after."

Tazuna had another confused look on his face as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Meaning…were they after you or one of us?" Kakashi explained, "We haven't heard that there are Shinobi after you. Our mission was to simply protect you from thieves and bandits" looking at the missing-nin, "This has become at least a B-rank mission. This was supposed to be simple protection until you completed the bridge."

"…."

Tazuna looked downwards with some shame in his face as Kakashi continued to speak, "If it was known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been an expensive B-rank. I'm sure you have a reason but it causes problems when you lie about the mission details, we are now operating out of our duty."

Hearing that and the threat of enemy ninjas again Sakura was the first to speak up as soon as she could, "We aren't ready for this mission! Let's quit! We need to get back before any other ninjas try to attack us; we don't need to get hurt for this!"

There was a single line in the thoughts of Naruto and Sasuke towards Sakura at that moment.

'Coward.'

"Hmm…while for the wrong reasons, Sakura does have a point. You all aren't ready for live combat against other ninjas yet; this might be too much" Kakashi said shocking his team though only Sakura had clear joy in his words.

"Kakashi-san…" Tazuna spoke up for the first time since Kakashi's explanation and said, "I need to talk to you about this mission."

Walking over Tazuna sighed, "You're right that this job is most likely outside your duties. It turns out that a super dangerous man is after my lie" he had the look of a resolved man who was ready to die for his beliefs.

"Super dangerous man?" Kakashi pondered, "Who?"

"You've probably at least heard his name before" Tazuna sighed, "The wealthy shipping magnate, a man known as Gato."

Kakashi looked shocked at that moment exclaiming, "Huh?! Gato? From that Gato company said to be the world's few extremely weathly people."

"Yes…officially he runs a lareg shipping company but secretly he sells drugs and other illegal items using ninhas and bandits as gangs members to ake over businesses and countries. He's a very nasty man."

"It was about a year ago when he set his eyes on the Wave Country. Through money and violene, he quickly took control o fthe country's shipping industry. Gato now has a monopoly on all business traffic in the county and the only hing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge" Tazuna explained.

"I see..since you're building the bridge your in the way" Sakura commented mostly to make herself look good in front of her Sasuke-kun.

"So…those ninjas were hired by Gato?" asked Sasuke.

"…."

Naruto stood there silent getting the information in case they were to continue with the mission which was very likely.

"What I don't understand is if you know Ninjas could be after you, why did you hide the fact when you hired us?" Kakashi asked. There were clear penalties in breaking those rules and they weren't pretty.

Tazuna looked down, "The Wave Coutry is super poor, even the feudal lord has no money; of course we don't have much money either…not enough to pay for an expensive B-Rank mission" Kakashi stared at the man with a bit of pity.

"Well…if you quit the mission now, I will definitely be killed but…" Tazuna started laughing cheerfully, "Don't worry about it! If I die, my cute 10 year old grandsom will just cry for a few days! Oh yeah, and my daughter will live a sad life while hating Leaf Ninjas forever. But it won't be your fault. Not all all!"

'This man is guilting us…and its working' the team thought at once.

With a puff of breath, Kakashi simply said, "Well I guess we have no choice. We will protect you at least until you get back to your country."

'I win' thought Tazuna at that moment.

* * *

On a boat with a man steering the way, the team plus Tazuna were moving slowly and more quietly through the deep mist where they couldn't see anything.

Naruto wasn't so worried since he could walk on water though Sasuke and Sakura seemed more tense the deeper into the mist they all went.

"What a thick mist. I can't see ahead" Sakura commented like nothing was wrong with what she was doing when they were supposed to be as quiet as possible.

The man steering the boat glared at Sakura before saying in a hush tone, "We should see the bridge soon. The Wave Country is at the base of the bridge."

Soon enough they passed by and they all saw the large form of the bridge. Naruto knew to keep quiet since they could be spotted. Unfortunately Sakura did not get that memo.

"WOW! IT'S HUGE!" she shouted. Naruto felt the need to drown her at that moment. Why exactly did he have a crush on her again? Right; popular, had lots of attention and liked the Teme. All the wrong reason for liking someone; mind you.

"Hey! Be quiet! Why do we are hiding in this mist and not using the engine? We'll be in deep trouble if Gato finds us out" the man exclaimed irritated more than before while sweating in nervousness.

"…."

"…."

Both Naruto and Sasuke glared at Sakura who tried play it off by making a sort of fake cute face at them but it didn't work. Kakashi was thinking of something else in the meantime.

"We'll be there soon. Tazuna it looks like we've avoided detecton so far but…just in case we'll take the route that has vegetation. It will make the enemies harder to spot us" the man said while Tazuna thanked him.

Eventually they passed under another bridge that connected the islands that made of the Wave Country to reveal a series of trees stationed in the wate with thick roots keeping them up while wooden houses were built on the edge where there were land.

"Wow…" Naruto quietly exclaim seeing the beauty of this place. However soon enough they stopped at the end of one make shift port and they got off. The man looking at Tazuna said, "This is it for me, goodbye and good luck."

"Yeah" Tazuna smiled at the man, "Thank you so much."

With that, the man started the engine of his boat and sped away.

"OK! Get me home safely" Tazuna commanded in a more happy tone than before with the fact he was near home again.

Meanwhile…Kakshi was thinking of what could happen now.

'If we get attacked again…it will surely not be a Chunin but a Jonin level enemy Ninja. Sigh…' he thought while keeping his senses sharp around the area. If they were going to be attacked; it would be on the path they were currently on.

Naruto was thinking on a similar line as Kakashi but did not expect any Jonin level foes getting in their way. He didn't want anyone to die and force him to spend another month on preparing to get t this point again; that walk to wave took them almost a week already!

'Eh?' one of his Shadow Clones which he sent out to scout ahead was destroyed by someone. Frowning Naruto eventually after a while felt the presence of an enemy and acted immediately sending a Shuriken into the bushes.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BAKA!" Sakura shrieked to the point where if they weren't detected already…they would be now while trying to attack her and failing again. Idiot girl.

"There was something there" Naruto pointed to which Sakura did not believe him at all shouting out, "YEAH RIGHT!"

Meanwhile Kakashi took the more practical and went through the bushes to see what Naruto was aiming at. It was a perfectly white rabbit that was frozen in fear with a Shuriken almost hitting it on the head; stuck just above its head.

"NARUTO! What have you done?!" Sakura shouted at him while Naruto was frowning. He was sure he detected a _human's_ presence just then. He was VERY good at that due to his series of pranks.

"Oh just a rabbit" Tazuna commented seeing the rabbit and calming down.

However Kakashi was the opposite and was starting to sweat seeing the true meaning of a white rabbit at this location.

'The snow rabbit changes colour based on the amout of sunlight meaning it is white during winder and brown during spring. This is a rabbit that has been kept in a cage for the purpose of body switching….so, they're here already.' He quickly thought scanning the area over and over again with his senses trying to pick of something.

Russel.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" Kakashi shouted.

Seeing that Sakura was not reacting, AGAIN, Naruto tackled her to the ground as Tazuna, Sasuke and Kakashi went to the ground as well. Soon enough the giant flying object slammed into the trunk of a tree and in the next instant a man was standing tha handle of the blade.

Kakashi frowned seeing _who_ the man was.

Naruto felt the presence of the man and…shivered. There was a whole deal of killing intent spilling from the man…no it was leaking out of all things. This man didn't even start to direct it to them at all. He gulped seeing this man was really a monster.

Sasuke tensed at the man, feeling he was powerful. Kakashi level power at least.

Sakura on the other hand wanted to run away.

"Well well, if it isn't the Hidden Mist's missing-nin Zabuza-kun" Kakashi said in an almost mocking tone. Moving an arm out to stop any of his Genin on trying to fight the man; namely Naruto though it was good that he wasn't and could tell the threat level of the enemy; he said:

"Everyone get back. This one is on a whole another level" Kakashi moved to grab his headband and pull it up, "This will be a little tough unless I do this"

"You appear to be Sharingan Kakashi" Zabuza commented, "Sorry but the old man is mine to kill."

'Sharingan?' Naruto was confused on why that word was associated with Kakashi when he wasn't part of the Uchiha Clan.

"Surround and proect Tazuna-san, do not enter the fight" Kakashi commanded, "That is teamwork here" he stared at Zabuza and said, "Zabuza first…fight me" revealing the three tomoe eye to everyone.

Naruto and Sasuke were shocked that Kakashi had a Sharingan. Naruto remembered that was a Dojutsu part of the Uchiha Clan but Sasuke was thinking otherwise.

He remembered what his brother said to him that night…the _other_ man who aided in the destruction of his Clan…

Zabuza started to chuckle, "When I was a member of the Hidden Mist's assassination team, I kept a handbook and it included information on you. And this is what it said; the man who copied over a 1000 Jutsus…'Copy Ninja Kakashi'"

Swatting down on the long handle of his sword, Zabuza prepared himself for a fight, "Now…let's end all the talking. I have to kill that old man."

In an instant, the team surrounded Tazuna to protect him.

"But it seems that I have to beat you first Kakashi" Zabuza growled before disappearing into the water.

* * *

 **A/N:**

At last, Zabuza Fight Ver.1!

This is the part of the story where things _really_ diverge from Canon. Well not so different first time round this particular fight happens anyway, in Canon Kakashi gets trapped while everyone else in Team 7 watches which will be the ultimate result if Naruto doesn't do anything.

However Zabuza is a Jonin on the same level as Kakashi.

Naturally things won't be easy for this fight.

But onto other things that are relevant to this chapter, to be particular those D-rank missions.

I must admit, I ripped most of it off from 'Chunin Exams Days' since _they_ actually made sense. D-rank missions are training tools one way or another. I'm pretty sure that most would disregard D-rank missions as useless but those people really aren't being creative enough.

Else they really want to get that part of the story over with.

But on other things that relate to missions, the structure of the D-C-B-A-S mission ranking system doesn't make that much sense to me. Sure, they're the guidelines to what mission should go to who but...it's kinda generalised.

I mean you have bodyguard protection duty and bandit extermination being put on the same level as C or B rank missions. Same as Assassination and Delivery missions at times as A or S rank missions.

Quite literally this mission system is based off two things.

The first is how 'difficult' the mission is actually is. That's fine, that makes sense as well.

The second however is how 'important' the mission is. You could literally have a S-rank mission on finding a lost child if said lost child was the child of a Kage or something along those lines.

But then again, S-rank missions are priority #1, do NOT fail type missions.

Throw enough money for a missions and the rank of the mission and thus it's 'importance' will increase as well. The amount of money placed for a mission is ironically also the guidelines that a Shinobi Village uses to determine how 'difficult' a mission is.

You can have A-rank missions that are less intensive than C-rank missions as a result of this. Wave Arc is a clear example of this even though technically should've counted as a A-rank.

Then again, why the hell was that mission counted as a C-rank later on?

Does the system really not adjust these kinds of things?

I mean according to the databooks Naruto had the follow missions on record:

Databook 2

7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 1 B-rank, 2 A-rank, 0 S-rank.

Databook 2 is just before the Timeskip. Databook 2 says a hell lot.

Remember the mission which Kakashi gives Sakura and Co. to save Sasuke from Garaa? Yeah, that's one of the A-rank missions. Trying to get Sasuke back from defection probably counts as an A-rank as well.

The B-rank probably comes from Jiraiya bringing Tsunade back to Konoha to be Hokage.

Then there's the C-rank. Team 7, Naruto had only **ONE** mission in Canon that ever counted as a C-rank and that's the Wave mission, that was and should've been elevated into a A-rank mission.

And they bloody didn't put _that_ into the records.

Not to mention that apparently the mission requirement to get a C-rank is probably 7 D-rank missions.

Nope, look at Hinata's stats for Database 2. She has 5 D-ranks and 3 C-ranks. Shino's one doesn't have the mission stats but Kiba's one has 7 D-ranks, 4 C-ranks and 1 A-rank. Team 10 has 8 D-ranks, 3 C-ranks and A-rank missions for only Shikimaru and Chouji on their stats.

Apparently the lowest D-rank mission count to get a C-rank could be 5 D-rank missions else there's none and its all up to the Jonin.

I don't want to even bother with why Hinata has less D-ranks than anyone else.

Plus she has 10 D-rank, 14 C-rank, 8 B-rank, 1 A-rank, 0 S-rank which is a hell lot more respectably than Naruto's 7 D-rank, 1 C-rank, 2 B-rank, 6 A-rank, 0 S-rank in the same period even if Naruto has a lot more A-ranks under his belt.

Fun fact: At the same time Kakashi had the following, 197 D-rank, 190 C-rank, 414 B-rank, 298 A-rank, 42 S-rank.

Moreover at **10** he had this: 48 D-rank, 21 C-rank, 63 B-rank, 8 A-rank, and 0 S-rank

Yep at 10, Kakashi was _way_ better than timeskip Naruto.

Yeah, it's this kind of thing in Canon that makes things really confusion to write about. You have Kakashi who is a genius who has all these mission even at a young age and powerful but then you have Naruto who while not a genius but just as powerful later on having _less_ missions than even his other peers who aren't as strong.

In conclusion, Missions are screwed up in Canon, Naruto had to face a couple S-rank enemies as a Genin. He should've gotten a couple S-rank missions **ESPECIALLY** after the Kazekage retrieval mission.

Bloody Team 9 got that S-rank missions on their records.

Hell Sakura didn't get that S-rank mission record as well with Naruto and probably Kakashi.

 ** _That_** is the reason why missions are fucked up in Canon. No logical manner of doing things and characters not getting anything on their records while other do.

God, its really sad when fanfic mission records are more logical and correct then in Canon.


	18. Chapter 17 - Zabuza the Monster

**Chapter 17: Zabuza the Monster**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Zabuza appeared again on the water with both hands in individual Ram hand-seals. One arm was straight up while the other was in front of his face.

"Over there!" Naruto said about to pull out some weapons to throw at the man when he remembered Kakashi was leading this battle. He silently placed his weapons back in his pouch for later.

"And on top of the water!" Sakura exclaimed as well though Naruto wasn't sure why she didn't know Ninjas could stand on water.

It was a basic Chakra Control exercise as well though Kakashi actually didn't teach them much aside from physical conditioning and teamwork.

Meanwhile Zabuza was releasing a large amount of Chakra into the air and said, "Water Style: Hidden Mist Jutsu."

And with that he disappeared into the mist.

"He's gone!" Sakura exclaimed.

Kakashi looked at the lake and warned his team, "He'll come after me first. Momochi Zabuza as a member of the Hidden Mist was known as an expert in silent killing.

You don't even notice until you're already dead…plus it's not like I can use the Sharingan Perfectly. You guys be careful."

It was then that Naruto noticed that the mist was getting thicker and…it felt heavier as well? Like it was laced with something he couldn't tell properly. But his thoughts were cut off when Zabuza's voice resounded all over the place.

"8 Choices…"

"Huh? What?" Sakura looked around and saw nothing…inside of a place covered in mist by the enemy.

"Liver, Lungs, Spine, Chevical, Neck, Brain, Kidney, Heart. Which one should I go after?"

The voice was halfway there between growling and echoing which made him sound frightening.

Kakashi was silent when he clapped his hands into the Ram hand-seal with both hands and started to channel a massive amount of Chakra with his killing intent coming out combating the killing intent Zabuza was spilling out as well.

The air was heavy.

That was what Naruto noticed when the two wills of these Jonin cashed. It was like both of them could come out of nowhere and slay them where they stand and they could not do anything at all.

This was a feeling that Naruto felt before on a lesser scale and thus he was not as affected as his team-mate.

Sakura was stuck there frozen like Tazuna while Sasuke being the more competent one was shaking knowing what was going on.

"Sasuke" it was then that Kakashi called out to him, "Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me" he turned to eye-smile at them with both eyes now, "I don't let my comrades die."

"We'll see about that!"

Naruto felt Zabuza appearing the centre of their formation in that moment. A moment ago he wasn't there and now he just appeared! He slipped into their guard so easily as well.

This was the skill level of a Jonin, something that he; a Genin could not match right now.

"It's over!" Zabuza started to swing his giant blade towards Tazuna while everyone else could do nothing but watch. Kakashi crashed in the way while knocking away his team and Tazuna who jumped away while stabbing a Kunai into Zabuza…who was leaking water from the stab wound.

"Water Clone?!" Kakashi exclaimed.

Spotting a figure behind his Sensei about to swing into him, Naruto shouted, "Behind you Sensei!"

The blade cleanly cut through Kakashi's body as Sakura who had a clear view of the action screamed. The red blood turned into clear water and it was revealed that the thing that Zabuza cut was a Water Clone as well.

It was then that Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with a Kunai to his neck with one statement, "It's over!"

But Zabuza started chuckling, "Hehehehe, it's over? You don't get it. There is no way you can defeat me with your monkey like imitations. But that was impressive of you" he said without concern that a weapon was next to his neck.

"At that time…you had already copied my Water Clone Jutsu and had your Clone to say those words to attract my attention while the real you stayed in the mist and watched. Nice plan but-"

A voice appeared behind Kakashi and was the real Zabuza growling beind him, "I'm not that easy."

In shock, Zabuza killed the Water Clone just as Zabuza swung his giant sword at Kakashi who ducked to dodge but the man continued to spin and kick Kakashi into the water.

Zabuza was about to charge in and finish the job when he found Makibish; a type of spiked ball trap spread over the ground.

"Foolish" Not minding them at all, Zabuza moved quickly with a Body Flicker behind Kakashi as he came out of the water.

The water was inbued with his Chakra which made it heavier than normal which was the perfect trap.

Naruto watched with horrid fascination as Zabuza smirked, "Heh, fool. Water Prison Jutsu!" forcing the water around Kakashi to spread out and trap him in a water sphere with him in the centre before monologuing.

"You tried to escape to the water. That was a mistake now that I have you in an inescapable prison!" The man glared down at Kakashi, "It's tougher when you can't move you know" Zabuza made a one handed sign, "Now Kakashi, we can finish things later, first I'll take care of them."

Naruto felt some dread as the man said the name of the Jutsu, "Water Clone Jutsu."

Out of the water, a copy of Zabuza appeared in front of them as it started speaking to them as well with the real Zabuza and Kakashi who was still trapped watched on.

The Water Clone stumbled a bit before it started talking, "Wearing those headbands and acting like Ninjas. A real ninjas is someone who has survived numerous brushes with death."

Zabuza instantly moved closer to Sakura who was the closest and said, "Only when you're good enough to be listed in my handbook can you start calling yourself ninjas. You are not ninjas but trash to be slaughtered!."

Sensing the killing intent from the Water Clone alone; Naruto started to sprint to protect Sakura and shouted, "Sakura! RUN!"

But it was too late.

Sakura was stuck frozen on the spot and didn't even have a weapon out to defend herself as Zabuza kicked her and beheaded her in one go.

The Loop ended there.

* * *

To say that Naruto was in a dilemma was an understatement.

He had a problem; no two problems and both of them needed close work in order to make it work. The first was Sakura. He really wanted to like the girl but after more than a year in the Time Loops it was quite hard when all she treated him was badly.

Plus it didn't help that she was pitifully weak.

The thing is that Sakura did NOT want to train properly at all. She diets which lowers not only her strength but also her future growth as well. She like that time with Zabuza would not be able to react in time and just die like that.

She was more like a civilian that could barely use Chakra; he checked. Her Chakra Control was near perfect but her Chakra Reserves in turn were near nothing.

The second problem was Zabuza himself. He was stronger than Kakashi in Taijutsu which…other than the use of Water Clones and that Water Prison Jutsu was the entire fight.

Even though Sensei said that he would fight alone, he would probably lose trying to protect everyone.

That meant he needed to fight withut worrying about his team which was impossible in that scenario.

Naruto couldn't even get into the battle since all he knew were close combat moves and nothing long range except for throwing weapons which didn't help with Jonin level fights.

"Wait…didn't Sasuke have that large fireball and those smaller ones?" Naruto questioned his memory and found that Sasuke could use long range attacks. So didn't he?

Was he afraid?

There was a lot of killing intent going around so that may be the case…

That was another problem he had to deal with…he needed a way out of the situation…hmm he could ask Kakashi about the exact scenario so he had an extra opinion on what to do there.

But first…he needed to get Sasuke with those Resistance Seals for that Demon Brothers fight and he needed to get those D-ranks to get more cash.

Most of these things can be done with Shadow Clones but there were certain things like actually physically training himself that he needed to do himself.

With a sigh, Naruto decided to see what else he could do in that situation when it came to it.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei" Naruto after a week of re-training went up to his Sensei and asked him at the beginning of one of their training days, "What do we do if an enemy Ninja captures you and sends a clone to try and kill us?"

Kakashi seemed to be startled enough of the question that he looked away from his orange book.

Sasuke on the other hand while also startled by the question was interested. He knew his Sensei was powerful but there were more powerful Ninjas out there…like Itachi. What would happen if their Sensei was captured or kill?

Sakura on the other hand felt that Naruto was asking another stupid question and wanted to cater to her Sensei a bit by shrieking out, "BAKA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ASKING?!"

After recovering their hearing, Kakashi said, "Mare mare. That is indeed an important question from Naruto you know" he then looked as if he was in deep thought and said in a serious tone, "If there was ever a situation where I cannot protect you…run."

"Run?" Naruto tilted his head; not exactly the words he expected.

Pointing to himself he declared, "I'm actually quite powerful even among Jonin you know; an Elite Jonin whose strong enough to last against even Kage level foes to some extent even if I have little hope on defeating one with my current abilities."

The team nodded taking it in though not fully understanding what that meant. The difference in skills between the two sides was too great after all.

"But if I was taken out that means the enemy would be someone of equal rank to me; an Eilite Jonin as well or an A-rank enemy nin. These kinds of people don't need much effort to kill any of you if you try to fight" he explained which caused the team to tense a bit. It was not a nice feeling to know there are those out there that can easily kill you.

"And if we are protecting a client? What happens when we can't run?" Naruto asked though wasn't alluding to what would happen against Zabuza yet.

"I still say to run…but if you cannot and have to fight or if there is a chance that you can free me from capture even if it is unlikely then does your best to survive and train hard now to survive."

Naruto took that into account.

* * *

Once again Kakashi was trapped in the Water Prison Jutsu that Zabuza used.

It was quite ironic for a world in which there were so many unpredictable things happening in a battle that it went out exactly the same as before even if Naruto needed to act a bit.

He was still frightening as shit of Zabuza. Both he and Kakashi after some digging were A-rank Ninjas; just under S-rank, the Kage or monster rank.

In turn his team consisted of Sasuke who was around C-rank; Sakura who was below D-rank and himself who was a high D-rank or C-rank like Sasuke.

Yeah…even a tenth of the ability of that Water Clone was enough to kill them.

"Water Clone Jutsu" Zabuza said as from the water a clone of him appeared. There was still that distinct pressure from killing intent from the Water Clone.

Looking around; Sakura was luckily further from the fight while he and Sasuke were at the front needing to take this clone down.

Taking a Kunai out and making a Cross Sign Naruto shouted, "Sakura! Get to Tazuna and protect him!" while glaring at the Water Clone, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

With a good deal of smoke; Naruto created a full 100 Shadow Clones at once using the Multi-varient of the Shadow Clone Jutsu. It took way less Chakra that way and he might need the Chakra later so he wasn't going to spend at once.

"Oh? So you can use that Kinjutsu eh?" the Water Clone of Zabuza mused looking amused but still in the end took out his giant sword, "But! A hundred of you still won't kill me!" before swinging wildly at the Shadow Clones who charged in while skilfully dodging the ranged attacks from the ones that stayed back.

"Dobe…you…" Sasuke looked shocked at Naruto who did this but Naruto cut him off, "Not now Teme. We are about to die to THAT!" he pointed at the Water Clone, "And I need your help to live through this with hopefully saving Kakashi-sensei."

By the time he was speaking (which couldn't be more than 10 seconds) half of his Shadow Clones were destroyed and quite brutally from the memories he got from them.

Naruto couldn't help but to flinch at all of those Shadow Clones being killed.

And the fact that he just experienced the many _many_ methods he just died several times over in an instant.

Sasuke looking at the destruction a mere Water Clone was making compared to Naruto's own Shadow Clones had no time to even insult Naruto in any way as he agreed mentally and asked, "Yeah. I use my Fire Ninjutsu from afar?"

Naruto shrugged and stated, "More or less. I really don't have any ranged attacks aside from throwing weapons which I need to correct later on. Don't worry about destroying my Shadow Clones. I can make a LOT more."

"Let's do this!"

Both boys went into position.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke rapidly made the hand-seals and breathed out a giant fireball from his mouth.

Naruto was impressed; this was a C-rank Jutsu from what he remembered and grew hotter and more power with more Chakra in it.

The Fireball however quite slow to a Jonin's perspective and the Water Clone of Zabuza easily dodged the fireball and started to charge at them.

"Shit!"

Naruto made another batch of 100 Shadow Clones to stall Zabuza but in the end he managed to kill Sasuke who tried and failed to fight back.

"Damn it!" Naruto cursed.

The Loop ended with his death but not before Naruto made another note to learn a move that allows him to move quicker…

* * *

Waking up again Naruto counted and this was the fifth Loop since this checkpoint.

The first Loop ended due to Sakura being a coward and abandoning Tazuna to the Demon Brothers. The second Loop ended since Naruto didn't persuade the Hokage to give them the C-rank mission.

The third Loop ended with Zabuza killing Sakura and now the fourth Loo ended with Zabuza killing Sasuke…that seemed to be a reoccurring theme here and it made things a lot harder for Naruto. His team-mates needed to get stronger but more than that, Naruto had to keep them out of trouble.

"What I am lacking right now is in speed…" Naruto muttered. He needed to find a way to get faster aside from physically doing so.

Naruto was pretty sure everyone fast enough in his perspective to a certain extent was not a training freak like Gai and Lee.

Hell if their _training_ was what it took to be THAT fast than there were too many training freaks in the world. He heard rumours that the 4th Raikage was able to somewhat match the 4th Hokage in speed with his Lightning Armour.

A man using pure speed of his body to match someone using Space/Time to move instantly all over the place.

The Raikage was a monster deserving of a level itself...and several more while he's at it.

But then Naruto realised something when thinking about the Raikage.

A Ninjutsu.

There were Ninjutsus out there that could allow him to go faster than before even if it was temporary. That was something he could work on and stay with him no matter how many times he looped.

With that in mind, Naruto decided to analyse what happened and how to prepare better against Zabuza. For the most part Kakashi can handle things…but that Water Clone…

"A Water Clone is a 10th the strength of the original. But in 10 seconds that one 10th clone managed to destroy 50 Shadow Clones easily. At that point I'm a solid Genin level ninjas so does that mean that Zabuza Clone is at the Chunin level or something?" Naruto groaned.

Shaking his head Naruto was sure that was not the case; Zabuza was not that strong but his Water Clones were Chunin level.

If that was really the case than a lot more people would be using Water Clones at that level. That only meant…

"My Shadow Clones are still too weak" he sighed.

Even though his Shadow Clones were also created with the same level as him it didn't mean they had his endurance to take a hit. They literally popped in a single hit.

"Which means I need a move that increases my speed even more than before" he sighed. He was pretty sure that there was a move that did this. It was something that he saw Jonin and even Chunin use often to move from one place to another.

Though there was probably a good reason why they didn't use it often in battle and instead used it to travel faster.

With this in mind, Naruto created more Shadow Clones and sent them for training and one to meet his team while he himself placed up a Transformation and went straight to the Library.

Perhaps there was something there about the method to do this?

* * *

5 hours later with Shadow Clones helping and Naruto pretty much went through the entire Genin section of the library.

There were lots of stuff including the most basic elemental jutsus that were at best ranked D-rank which he would practise later but there was nothing on getting yourself to move faster.

Well in a Jutsu form that is.

From what he could tell; there were few ways on using Chakra to make you stronger.

This included methods on increasing your senses; Chakra to the eyes would increase your sight, Chakra to your ears increased hearing, Chakra to your nose increased smell, Chakra to your mouth increased sense of taste. Increasing sensitivity to touch was there but was rarely used due to increased pain when hit.

But there was also the reverse to these as well. While you could use Chakra to increase your senses; you could also use Chakra to make sure these senses are not overloaded.

For example he heard through some Shadow Clones and conversations later that the Inuzaki Clan was proficient in blocking out excess smells to not get overwhelmed due to their enhanced smell.

Of course Naruto tried these methods out; both the sense enhancing and the sense blocking and caused a large number of Shadow Clones to dispel due to overloading these techniques with too much Chakra.

Other use of Chakra to enhance yourself comes in the form of using Chakra to boost your body's capabilities.

To go faster; one method was the reverse of the Tree Climbing exercise where instead of trying to stick to the ground, you would push off it to increase speed.

Another method was to use Chakra to increase your reaction speed lacing Chakra into your nerves.

He had enough sense to allow his Shadow Clones test out any new methods of training so he didn't get disable from one of them accidently. The reaction speed enhancement was actually quite difficult and required a lot more Chakra Control then he had and instantly killed any Shadow Clones he used when trying it out.

"It was a good call to not use it myself else I would reset the Loop or worse have to stay in the hospital for a month…" Naruto shuddered. Due to his…early days in that place he had a massive dislike to it.

He also; by the end of the day had limited success with the other Chakra methods he had found.

To be honest to himself; he only had around a third chance of getting each of them correctly and he would probably need a couple of months to get some of them to an acceptable level.

Furthermore with the details the Genin section gave him of these techniques which were incomplete and vague, it would be harder for him to use it properly unless aided by a Jonin or have access to the Chunin or higher section of the Library.

Naruto sighed to himself, "It seems that I need to rely on Kakashi-sensei for this again…"

While relying on his Sensei was something that was expected; Naruto had lived and relied on himself for so long that it felt weird to rely on someone other than for the more basic things.

While Iruka taught him a number of things including the more complex characters to read and write as well as Hokage-jiji; in the end it was Naruto who relied on himself to study those methods with hard work alone.

While Gai and Lee helped him with his Taijutsu; he was already working on it and getting help from them was like sharpening a blade in the right direction. Naruto was already studying Taijutsu styles to make his own at that point.

For a Genin; Naruto's skill set was not bad.

Combine this with his Shadow Clones and he was well on his way for Chunin…hopefully.

He still struggles on controlling more than 10 Shadow Clones in battle aside from making them charge at the enemy head on without any technique. And the memory transfer while useful in training was more annoying in battle.

Did he really need to know how many different way he could die?

Shaking his head, Naruto made sure he knew what he was going to do. These Chakra Enhancement techniques were a useful thing to have even if they were basic for stronger Ninjas.

Hopefully he could use these to make sure Kakashi doesn't get captured again.

* * *

"Damnit!" Naruto shouted.

At this rate everything would go the same way as before with Kakashi being captured in the Water Prison Jutsu and the Water Clone slaughtering the rest of them! He had to finish this was quickly as possible.

Reserving anything was a bad thing at this point.

"Mult-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he screamed.

And with one go, a large amount of mist was created as Naruto created over a 1000 Shadow Clones at once all glaring at Zabuza.

"What is…this?" the no eyebrow man muttered in shock though not as shocked as everyone else there with them.

It looked like with this they would be able to proceed with the mission at last.

"TAKE HIM DO-"

However something hit him in the neck and with great drowsiness and with every last Shadow Clone he made popping at the same time; his fight went to an end and with it; the Loop.

* * *

"What the hell was that?" Naruto wondered.

The last thing he recalled was that he made a shit-tone worth of Shadow Clones and was about to order them to take down Zabuza. However he was taken down by something or someone before he did anything.

Was there another person with Zabuza?

That was a frightening thought. Someone who was there but did nothing and someone who could've aided Zabuza at any moment in the fight when things went too far from what it was expected to happen.

Such as a blonde kid like him creating over 1000 Shadow Clones at once.

Yeah…no wonder why that hidden guy pretty much killed or knocked him out the moment he created so many clones at once.

Which meant he couldn't do the same to power through the fight; he needed something else to at least push Zabuza down enough for Kakashi to defeat the guy; though…it was kinda sad that the mission now depended on him to succeed.

If it was him before the Time Loops and…well lots of new stuff happening in his life; he would've been elated for the opportunity.

However he was not and this was giving him a headache.

Kakashi-sensei was supposed to be an elite…well he was but it seems Zabuza or something of his rank was hard to find which made their situation worse than it should be for a simple C-rank mission.

Naruto sighed thinking of all the time spent on solving how to survive the fight.

He needed more information as well.

It looked like that Water Prison Jutsu didn't allow the real Zabuza to move so he used a Water Clone instead.

That was one point of interest for Naruto. Enough thrown weapons at that direction with larger weapons like those Giant Shurikens could free Kakashi.

Else Sasuke could use a Fireball to do the same as well. Sakura could be useful for once and help out as well.

Water Clones were only 1/10 the strength of the original but they were strong enough to take down enough of his Shadow Clones to be a threat. This Water Clone would stop them from attacking the real Zabuza the moment they moved to.

Getting rid of it was good but stalling the Water Clone is better in the short term at least.

"Hn."

"…."

Naruto paused for a second.

"…."

He thought about what just happened.

"SHIT! I TURNED INTO A BROODY TEME!" he shouted. It was lucky there was no one living near him due to…circumstances.

"Need to not be a teme. Need to not be a teme. Need happy thoughts. Yes happy thoughts" he repeated to himself frantic.

There was good in the every lasting loop he was stuck in. He could get stronger no matter how many times he died. He had as many second chances as he had even if he worked hard to avoid any death on his side.

He would eventually get strong enough to become Hokage!

"Yosh! Let's do this!" Naruto exclaimed. He needed to be more positive. No more brooding aloud!

There were definitely some perks in being stuck in this particular part of the Time Loop.

Yeah; let's at least try that and if that doesn't work then he would work more on getting stronger while gaining experience with the battle against Zabuza. It wasn't everyday where you could face a Jonin level foe as many times as you want.

Fighting against Zabuza would be great experience to refine his Taijutsu! Both Shadow Clone style and Individual style!

* * *

"Let's do this Dattebayo!" Naruto shouted with glee as he created a hundred clones and charged at the Water Clone.

It was a massacre on his side but after a good five sets of Shadow Clones attacking the Water Clone; he managed to destroy it.

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered as he ordered his Shadow Clones to attack the real Zabuza.

"Not bad…" Zabuza praised, "However this is where you die! Water Clone Jutsu!"

The moment Zabuza shouted that, a dozen more Water Clones appeared.

"NARUTO RUN!" Kakashi shouted frantic as he tried to escape to save him.

However Naruto still grinned and created more Shadow Clones to combat the Water Clones. With the addition of those Chakra enhancing techniques, Naruto was able to make each Shadow Clone the level of a High Genin.

Even if they still popped with a single hit.

From normal Genin level to High Genin level there wasn't much different especially to an enemy of Zabuza's level but with larger numbers...

'Yes, the experience from this fight is GOOD!' he thought slightly insane from all the deaths and repetition and such.

He didn't even bother to dodge as the giant sword split him in half.

 _Checkpoint 3: Loop 6 End (Total Loops: 58)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Zabuza is the first real villain of the story and what's good about the series.

He doesn't have a massive Jutsu that can wipe out of the area, he doesn't have the strength to create caters as he punches nor is he fast to the point that common elite enemies fall the moment he moves.

Zabuza was a Ninja that specialised in silent killing and assassination.

And that meant that he used the basics of basics to become so strong to the point that others with all those flashy stuff they had later on in the series to turn their heads to wonder how the hell is he so good at what he does.

Zabuza in the series is the one to first introduce battles that literally made it clear by Ninjas were so above Civilians in battle. The difference between someone who used Chakra and a simple Commoner.

This basically began the trend in the series to keep on adding more and more stronger Jutsus.

Something that kept things simple but at the same time made the series Shallow in its dept.

There are waaaay more ways that the series could've went. Literally in the first chapter you find that Naruto somehow managing vandalising the Hokage Monument without anyone noticing.

That took stealth, planning and patient.

Everything that seemed to disappear from that point on.

I would've really liked the series after the Timeskip to not dive into the pool that were S-rank battles that _required_ over the top Jutsus of mass destruction to win or even lightly injured the enemy.

I would've really liked to see Naruto maturing enough to be a Chunin in mind and getting promoted after a mission that _clearly_ defined him from a child before whose one ability was charging in head on all the time. (And people think of why Naruto stayed a Genin for so long)

I would've liked to see Naruto's training going from mere power and strengths to tricks and deceptions to take down stronger foes like Akatsuki and their band of S-rank missing-nin.

It is clear that Naruto is unable to beat _any_ S-rank at the beginning of the second part of the series in pure strength, so _why didn't he learn how to beat them in other ways?_

When I think of the first fight against Zabuza I don't think of Naruto somehow getting _another_ power-up to go faster or pull out even more destructive Jutsus that he would only use _once_.

I think of an enemy that all his strength, power and brute force cannot defeat no matter what.

Which left Naruto with deception upon more deception and other tricks in other to get the upper hand for that _one_ moment that Zabuza could not force Naruto down like a dog, a single moment where Naruto was going to _win_ not because of his massively overpowered Jutsus or power-ups but because he could out-think his enemy.

And that's what I literally made Zabuza into.

A monster that Naruto could not brute force through.

It was rather simple really, Naruto is a Genin even in skill and strength right now no matter how many Shadow Clones he could make while Zabuza was a powerful Jonin that rivalled Kakashi.

Even if Naruto won, it would not be easy for him.

You see, enemies that are somehow defeated through either plot holes, plot armour and the likes are _boring_.

Enemies defeated due to a series of strategies that somehow managed to blend together in a plan that _could_ work but _did_ because the conditions were right are interesting.

While I really rather not spend 5 chapters on this fight alone which was why I didn't since the plot needed to move on, I wanted to make sure everyone knew how monstrous Zabuza was in comparison to Naruto.

Zabuza and the comparison to Kakashi in strength only made Orchimaru even more monstrous during the Chunin Exams.

I'm going to have _fun_ with that part.


	19. Chapter 18 - Finally Scrapping Through

**Chapter 18: Finally Scrapping Through**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

By now; Naruto was up to Loop 10 for this checkpoint and a total of 1 Year spent training and fighting Zabuza.

To be honest; Naruto could've went through and get to the next checkpoint but he didn't know if they would face the no eyebrow man later on.

"Taijutsu seems…fine" Naruto commented seeing a single Shadow Clone with its resistance seal off face off against a few other Shadow Clones at once.

While his skill in Taijutsu wasn't to the High Genin level yet; individually that is; his skills in Shadow Clone combat was much better now. Even a trained Chunin would be pressed enough with 5 Shadow Clones attacking him at once.

For starters he was now more able to coordinate with a few number of Shadow Clones using at max three of them to pressure an enemy else defeat them.

Using a Shadow Clone to block an attack before attacking in that gap was one example of how Naruto managed to progress in skill. Another was to quickly create a Clone while in mid-air to move him out of an attack.

Not to mention that he was able to pressure Kakashi quite a lot with three dozen Shadow Clones facing him off. It was his proud moment when he managed to lure the man into a prank trap which painted the words 'Pervert' on him.

"Hehehehe, Kakashi-sensei couldn't get the paint off and had to change" he giggled thinking at how the man treated him after that.

Aside from screwing around with his team; or rather at his team with pranks and such; Naruto was much more serious later on in the Loop.

The fight with Zabuza and before that; the fight with the Demon Brothers were one of the first times his team saw him…serious with the exception of Guy and Lee whom he trained often in for his Taijutsu development.

Basically he spent most of the time during this time making up tactics in order to get rid of Zabuza, save Kakashi or prevent Kakash from being captured by the former. It was actually quite fun trying to predict the Jonin's ability and counter it to the best of his ability.

"Though for some reason Zabuza needs to survive the fight to move on as well…" Naruto mused.

It was actually a shocker to him when Zabuza died against Kakashi who was using that Jutsu to gather lightning in his hand; the Loop reset. In fact he repeated the battle exactly the same and the same thing happened.

Zabuza needed to live…for now that is.

Plus there was still that unknown person who was helping out Zabuza. Naruto pouted thinking of how he never saw the reaction of that unknown person when Zabuza died.

Did that person escape?

Did that person attack them?

Did that person set a trap for them?

He wanted to know this information and every time Zabuza died, he was prevented on seeing this.

Well it just meant that he needed to make sure Zabuza was knocked out…one way or another. Yeah…Naruto was really questioning on _why_ an enemy had to live right now. Perhaps it had some significance later on but he wasn't sure.

"But why does Zabuza need to live at this point?" Naruto thought, it was like his life was a story which glitch out at certain points to tell him that nope; you can't get rid of this guy at this point. It was highly frustrating for him to work with something as restrictive as this.

A damn list of what he could and could not do would be perfectly fine.

CRACK!

Then space cracked and a note fell through with Naruto dumbfound staring at it for a good 10 minutes before his head rebooted to understand what just happened.

"You go to be fucking kidding me" he muttered picking up the note after sending a Shadow Clone to check for traps, poisons or anything else that could harm him. God he loved the Jutsu at times like this.

 _Conditions for next checkpoint:_

 _Make sure you win the fight against Zabuza and avoid being killed along with anyone else; yes keep Zabuza alive, it is worth it. Oh and don't bother trying to chase him and his assistance when they appear; too much of the plot will change if you do._

 _Oh and if you're asking why you're stuck in a time loop of all things, blame it on fate, destiny, death and time not getting along with each other._

 _Signed, An Observer._

"The hell does this mean?" Naruto wondered.

It looked like that he was right in that Zabuza needed to live…along with everyone else there as well until they get far enough that there is another checkpoint…whenever that is.

Plus what was this about not chasing after that damn assistance that killed them a couple of times now?

He almost had Zabuza during those runs and that person ruined it!

Gritting his teeth, Naruto continued to rant in his head thinking of _why_ there would be a bloody note on how to proceed at this moment along with _why_ this person who was _watching_ him wasn't helping him at all!

CRACK!

And then another note fell through….

 _Can't help. Timeline is too unstable at that point in time. You need to progress way more in the story for me to meet you._

 _Signed, Someone who wants you to advance the plot._

With a frustrated sigh, Naruto shook his head and just decided to wing it to get through as fast as he could at this point. It's not like there would be dire consequences if he did.

* * *

"Almost there…" Naruto muttered about to see the clearing where Zabuza would appear once again.

Looking around he made a cross sigh and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" creating a couple of clones to spread out. Since he was at the back of the group, only Kakashi noticed him making the clones.

There was a silent nod from the man since Shadow Clones could relay information back to the original.

The training month before the C-rank went pass and Naruto considered himself doing good even compared to the previous runs of these events.

While he still maintained the massive amount of cash from all the D-ranks he did on minimum price each, getting the resistance seal from Kakashi and training with Gai and Lee; he also made some progress with his team-mates as well.

Knowing what the raven haired avenger wanted helped Naruto interact with the boy and made their relationship…less hostile.

'If you mean not trying to avoid any interactions with me and constantly sparring with me to get stronger if that's what you mean' that thought came in mind at that moment.

While Sasuke still dominated their spars for the most case, Naruto was getting used to Sasuke's fighting style and was winning increasingly to have around a third win rate right now.

That in turn caused the boy to train harder reducing his win rate down to something he considered perfectly fine.

Basically it was a cat and mouse game of whether Naruto could catch up in Taijutsu or Sasuke remaining powerful enough to maintain the distances in win rates.

But there was a good benefit to this admittedly.

He managed to convince Sasuke to train with him in Taijutsu with Gai and Lee as a result even though the poor boy tried to escape the moment he saw the green spandexes.

And that moment when Lee beat Sasuke. And the time when the duo ran Sasuke through the ground through running alone.

Naruto eventually managed to pull out a minor stick out of his ass with some help not thanks to Sakura who refused any extra training at all. Now, Sasuke was better at Taijutsu, a lot faster with more stamina (but not that much) and even wasn't as much of an ass as he remembered.

'All in the name of getting more power' Naruto thought grimly. He might need to correct that later on. Naruto knew the only reason Sasuke trained was to gain power to kill that certain someone. Before he thought it was him but…

Whoever angered Sasuke enough that he became an avenger was powerful. More powerful than Kakashi it seemed. And every time Naruto tried to learn more about it, either Kakashi steered the conversation away or Sasuke froze and reduced their relationship to hostile.

Naruto never could find out more information about why Sasuke wasn't power so quickly.

Poof!

His musing was stopped as one of his Shadow Clones were destroyed; though he wasn't sure it was Zabuza or his unknown assistance.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto warned which made Sakura give him a strange look.

The girl was useless even when he tried to help her.

Hell; Naruto wouldn't be that surprised if she conveniently forgot about him explaining how Shadow Clones worked.

Sasuke definitely did though was put out that he couldn't use it without killing him. Kakashi had to explain it VERY clearly to never use it without having more Chakra.

Fun fact: Most Jonin know this Jutsu but never use it since it takes up too much Chakra and it's not worth it in normal situations else the other problems that came with gaining memories of being killed constantly.

"GET DOWN!" Kakashi screamed pushing Tazuna down on the ground from behind as the rest of the team and Naruto did the same.

At that moment he felt another Shadow Clone pop, being killed.

Yep it was that assistance of Zabuza's doing his work. He was already down to 3 more Shadow Clones around the area and the fight didn't even start yet.

Cue time where Zabuza and Kakashi talked for a bit about things that he already knew as Naruto silently made a Shadow Clone behind him and immediately making it transform into a VERY small fox (ironically) that ran into the bushes.

With the enemy Jonin watching Kakashi, he didn't seem to be taking much notice on the Genin. Naruto managed to stop a smirk on how he was going to make his life hell in this short fight.

Naruto continued to create Shadow Clones one by one with lots of difficulties doing so making a half way cross sign with his Kunai at hand as a disguise. Even if he couldn't make a full cross, still making a half way attempt made it easier for him to mold his Chakra for the Jutsu.

Still...

Zabuza might know about him using Shadow Clones but it didn't matter since the man was underestimating him.

Those Shadow Clones created one by one were Transformed into small insects which crawled to each of his team-mates and Tazuna without them noticing a thing to appear when Zabuza least noticed it for an ambush.

Kakashi at this point drove Zabuza to the waters again where he started to make hand-seals and growled out, "Hidden Mist Jutsu."

A good deal of Chakra; more than Sakura could ever have and at least twice as much Sasuke has right now was used in the Jutsu where Mist started to be created around the body of Zabuza as water turned into vapour rapidly.

"Liver, Lungs, Spine, Chevical, Neck, Brain, Kidney, Heart. Which one should I go after?"

As those ominous words echoed and everyone except for Naruto and Kakashi were getting frightened; the mist continued to thicken and the killing intent from Zabuza continued to rise.

After experience so many times; while Naruto wasn't that affected by it; it still gave him the chills since it came from a man who slaughtered a graduating class _before_ he entered the Mist Academy.

Such a display at a young age made Zabuza a dangerous opponent even back then as a child though Naruto shivered at the thought that he _would_ do the same if put in the same situation.

Naruto for a lack of a better word was a Gutter Child; someone who lived stealing and doing whatever they could to survive.

With the mentally of a child and being overcharged by the village; Naruto had no choice but to steal to live and be stolen from when he finally got an apartment. More than that, he wanted to be acknowledge. He did so using Pranks.

Zabuza was the same and it was the state of the Hidden Mist Village that caused him to kill those people. He wanted to be acknowledged no matter what and slaughtering those people made him noticed.

Once again the air was heavy.

Zabuza was ready to kill and all of them were targets. Tazuna was close to fainting but held on since he had the fate of his country on his shoulders. That old man had resolution and was willing to die for it.

Naruto could respect that.

Sasuke was shaking but Naruto had a feeling he was getting a flashback attack from that event that was traumatising him. Understandable since Naruto had a feeling his team-mate was not completely mentally stable; but what Ninja was?

They were _trained_ _children killers_ even if Sakura was included in that list.

Sakura…wet herself and with his Chakra enhanced nose he smelt it. He wished to use it to try and track Zabuza even a bit not smell when his team-mate spoiled herself!

"Sasuke" it was then that Kakashi called out to the raven haired boy, "Don't worry. I'll protect you guys even if it kills me" he turned to eye-smile at them with both eyes now, "I don't let my comrades die."

"We'll see about that!"

Like before Zabuza appeared at that moment to attack.

Like before Zabuza went through their defence around Tazuna.

However unlike before, Naruto was prepared.

Poof!

A total of five Shadow Clones appeared and stabbed Zabuza several times in that exact moment.

"Water Clone?" Kakashi exclaimed as the Zabuza that Naruto 'killed' turned into water. The Trap was perfect with Naruto taking the enemy-nin in surprised though he should've expected this from a fellow A-rank Shinobi.

Instead of appearing behind Kakashi and attacking him; Zabuza seemed to have gotten more serious and targeted him as he growled out, "Not bad….BRAT!" before attacking with that giant blade falling down at his head.

"KYAAA!" Sakura uselessly screamed for her own safety.

"Dobe!" Sasuke seemed generally concern about him in that moment.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he rushed in to stop Zabuza at that moment while Naruto started to make the hand-seals for a certain Jutsu while tagging in to a Shadow Clone nearby.

SMASH!

Poof!

On one hand, Kakashi and the rest of them saw Naruto get sliced in half. On the other hand; said sliced Naruto poofed and turned into smoke meaning that was a clone all along.

And only Kakashi knew that Naruto had the ability to substitute with his Shadow Clones quickly.

"WHAT?!" the collection people who saw this shouted at once.

Grinning from a distance away from the battle; now with no one to notice him he made the Cross hand-seal and said, "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!" creating a good 50 Shadow Clones at once and transforming them into animals and other objects.

Hopefully the two Jonins would be too distracted to notice him using Shadow Clones.

Splitting up the animal transformed clones, he sent half of them to hide under the lake and the other half to distract Zabuza and help with the battle by moving them around the area for a possible trap later on.

He also sent down an untransformed Shadow Clone to help protect Tazuna and deceived Zabuza a bit since he didn't know that Naruto could use Shadow Clones. If he was going to avoid the shit storm with Kakashi being captured he might as well prepare for it.

Naruto watched as the battle continued with Zabuza and Kakashi both using Water Clones to screw each other's heads.

The moment they got away from Tazuna and the rest of his team, Naruto Transformed two of his Shadow Clones into giant Shurikens and threw them at Zabuza.

"Over there?!" Zabuza didn't seem surprised to be attacked at that moment and easily dodged the two giant shurikens and grabbed one to throw back directly at Naruto.

Only for that transformed clone to transform back to its original appearance and attack.

"The hell?!" Zabuza cried before killing the clone and picking up the second clone transformed giant shuriken and throwing it at Naruto.

'Damn he was too quick!' Naruto roared in his mind. Even if the clone cancelled its transformation he would still be hit!

Making the hand-seals quickly, Naruto substituted with another Shadow Clone near the ground instead of in the trees as he waited for the rest of his clones to get in position.

It was kinda hard to make sure that his animal transformed clones get near enough to the water.

He had to make the clones transformed clones into fish…which was kinda hard to do and popped around three quarters of those clones when they tried to get them in the waters of the lake place where the battle might go.

It took him a full Loop of study on fishes for this part of the plan.

"You won't get away!" Kakashi shouted charging in at Zabuza where he can't attack so easily.

The missing-nin let go of his blade unexpectedly and kicked Kakashi away to the direction of the lake forcing him to stay over the surface of the water.

'Better use those clones around near me to try and distract Zabuza some more' Naruto thought creating a Shadow Clone and immediately dispelling it giving the command to the rest of them.

In the next moment, several things happened at the same time in such a short period that it could not be more than 3 seconds max.

The first was that Kakashi was having trouble staying on the water which he didn't know was saturated with Zabuza's Chakra and thus was harder to manipulate or connect to.

Second was that Zabuza was now moving quickly behind Kakashi to use that Water Prison Jutsu of his to trap him. He was already making the hand-seals for it.

And third was that there were a dozen giant shurikens sheering through the air towards Zabuza and around where he could escape rapidly.

"Shit didn't get him that time…" Naruto cursed as he watched one of his shadow clones get questioned by his team-mates at THAT moment while Zazuba dodged the attacks he threw at them while shooting off hand-seals rapidly.

By that time Kakashi widened his eyes seemingly recognising the Jutsu.

Zabuza grinned through his bandage mask while saying, "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"

It was at that moment that Naruto REALLY knew the difference between a Genin and Jonin.

Genins like Sasuke MIGHT have one or two flashy jutsus they can do once in a while but this…creating a MASSIVE DRAGON OF WATER to appear and attack so easily was another thing.

BANG!

"SENSEI!" The real Naruto heard his team and his clone shout at the same time while Tazuna, a civilian was frozen in fear.

Sakura was gazing to the opposite side of the battle more than he liked as the battle went on fiercer than before.

Kakashi from where Naruto could see was flung back a good distance away due to the Jutsu and the chakra saturated water causing him to not move out of the way in time. By the time the Jutsu ended he hit a tree and rebounded back into the water.

This time…Naruto couldn't save him as Zazuba moved behind Kakashi and said, "Water Prison Jutsu" encasing the man in a sphere of water where he was trapped…and everyone else at the "mercy of the Water Clone that was just formed.

"All of you! RUN!" Kakashi shouted from the water prison. Strangely enough it was clear of what he said despite being in water…

Was there some sort of Jutsu that allowed you to do that? He needed to ask later.

Gritting his teeth Naruto thought, 'How much longer until those clones I sent there are in place?!' looking at the small fishes that were swimming slowly while being carried by the waves as close as possible to save his Sensei.

Looking at his team and the client Naruto figured it was time to get into the fight rather than a clone since he could at least take more than a single hit…he still needed to figure a way around that.

Making the hand-seals necessary; Naruto substituted with his clone next to his team and made that clone pop at the same time gaining the conversations he had with his team.

Cue Sakura insulting him, Sasuke not saying anything and Tazuna saying that they can fight if they wanted since he would be dead without them anyway.

Yeah…

He was glad he used a clone for this conversation they had for at least the sake of his ears and was at least prepared for the bloody fight now compared to before.

"Teme" Naruto started, "Somehow I think my Clones can't handle this…" while look at Zabuza slaughtering 10 Shadow Clones in less than a second flat.

Seeing the clear killing intent and 'pressure' from the Water Clone Zabuza which Naruto had to CONSTANTLY repeat in his head was only a tenth as strong as the original (He mildly wondered if Zabuza modified his one to be stronger…) Sasuke nodded and prepared himself.

"Sasuke! Aim a fireball at the real Zabuza! The Water Prison will protect Kakashi-sensei! I'll hold off the Water Clone!" Naruto shouted as both real and water clone Zabuzas widened their eyes.

"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A swarm of 100 Narutos appeared to hinder Zabuza as best they could while making a clear path to the target.

No matter what kind of person there are; there were only a few people who could shrug off C-rank or higher Jutsus and almost all of those people had a protection type jutsu or were simply S-rank. Naruto doubt Zabuza was one of those people despite being that strong.

Making the hand-seals quickly which Naruto once again noticed to be pretty fast for a Genin; though super slow compared to a Jonin; Sasuke breathed fire forming it into a giant fireball that was shot out to the real Zabuza.

All while his mass shadow clones were stopping the water clone in question.

Fuuuuuussssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh!

"YEAH!" Sakura cleared on seeing her Sasuke-kun kicking ass while completely ignoring what Naruto did and suggested to Sasuke to begin with.

However several more Water Clones appeared on the lake right in front of the target with Zabuza smirking at them.

BOOOOM!

The fireball hit them and blew up sending smoke and in this case water from that general area.

It was at this point that Naruto noticed his clones were pretty much cleared out while he wasn't watching and the memories he gained from them being destroyed were filtered out. Sasuke was looking nervous as well seeing that their admittedly straightforward plan didn't work.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH" Zabuza laughed, "Not bad brats! However you made a mistake of facing against me while you could've ran."

Naruto smirked to that.

"Too bad since we will not abandon our comrades. We will not be worse than trash" he declared in a confident tone similar to how he did before…this time loop thing.

To the side he could see that Sasuke was smirking as well trying to hide the fact he was shaking a bit.

While Naruto didn't like Sakura that much anymore (something he groaned about, wasting too many years on her); she was still their comrade and he trusted her to a certain extent to protect Tazuna and not run away.

"Heh, your death" Zabuza shrugged before commanding his Water Clone to kill them.

But Naruto continued to smirk. He got information from his clone underwater after all; they were in place and were waiting for action!

"Heh, your death" Naruto taunted back sending the signal to attack while the Water Clone was about to attack them.

POOF! POOF! POOF….!

A total of 6 Shadow Clones survived the…well transformation into a fish type creature and then the Water Dragon Zabuza sent and…really being underwater for a long time.

And all of them leaped into the air from under the water and turned back to their original shelves.

While throwing an aimed shot with a Kunai at Zabuza.

Acting with instincts seeing that this was no illusion and he had no plans on being pocked holes in with a good number of Kunai at once; Zabuza grabbed his giant sword and swung it blowing away all of the Kunai away with one landing near him.

But he didn't notice one thing. That those Kunai were also Shadow Clones.

Poof!

That one clone close enough and one that didn't pop due to the blow appeared and threw a Kunai at CLOSE RANGE and yet the missing-nin somehow managed to dodge that…

But in turn Zabuza had to released his Jutsu on Kakashi.

The Clone's last act was to attack Zabuza again as the man charged at the Shadow Clone in anger before Kakashi kicked Zabuza from the back rather hard.

"Ahh!" Zabuza turned and started flipping through hand-seals rapidly again but Kakashi read them and knew the Jutsu and sped through them faster than Zabuza could.

"Here's a present back for you!" Kakashi shouted shooting off his hands before shouting, "Water Vortex Jutsu!"

As the water around them turned into a vortex that shot at Zabuza and smashed him into the trees further away, Zabuza was in shock. He couldn't even move fast enough to get away from the jutsu and was hit hard.

BANG!

Staring at Kakahi who got near; Zabuza shouted out, "Impossible! Can you see the future?!"

"Yes" Kakashi replied with his Sharingan spinning rapidly at Zabuza, "And your future is death!" with a Kunai about to kill the man gripped in his hands.

Woosh!

In that moment two Sebon flew from the air and hit Zabuza instantly killing him. The man dropped dead as Kakashi checked his vitals and the man; no boy in the mask appeared. Naruto frowned; this was the person who killed or knocked him out before.

This person was strong enough to take Zabuza down. While the masked boy and Kakashi talked for a bit; Naruto remembered the note that said they needed to escape.

Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing that he didn't want to take the chance that he needed to let them go and stopped them and was forced to repeat this fight _again._

Pulling his headband down, Kakashi murmured some words and collapsed.

Looking at each other, Naruto and Sasuke took one of Kakashi arms and lifted him up; carrying him while Tazuna said, "My home is around an hour walk away now."

With nothing else to do; the team walked with their collapsed Sensei and were all thinking of different things but Naruto had one clear thought.

'Checkpoint get soon~'

 _Loop 10 End. Checkpoint Gained. (Total time spent: 1 Year 50 Weeks, 3 Days)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

The beginning of the Mysterious Observer!

Seriously I plan on _that_ on happening a total of 3 times in this series and this is the first. The second I've already written and the third time Naruto gets a message...well spoilers.

But onto the rest of the chapter itself.

This fight...while difficult for me to write was rather fun to write in all honesty.

Naruto here had several plans within plans that he was forced to use one after another to deal with whatever Zabuza threw at him. Shadow Clones were really overused in this fight as well serving several roles at once.

Seriously, Naruto could split himself into hundreds if he wanted and he didn't take advantage of that?

I mean he could've easily during the second bell test with Kakashi use Mass-Shadow Clones, hide them in the forest while setting up traps and fight him from afar while showering Kakashi with weapons instead of fighting close range.

Well to be far, he actually Transformed his Shadow Clone in that fight in the Manga which also skipped most of the fight.

The anime did a decent job at least for the rest of the fight that was skipped but once again we had Naruto Shadow Clones charging in and getting destroyed...what the hell happened on using Shadow Clones more smartly?

Anyway the next chapter is the next part of the story which is basically Wave.

And with the 1 Week training in Canon, you can bet Naruto will be training more for the second fight with Zabuza and now also Haku.

 **Also, reviews are back which means I can FINALLY read your comments.**

Which means I found that people don't like me bashing Sakura so much. True, but I have big plans for her and its not going to the whole 'she dies pitifully' type of thing.

Remember the whole mentally and constant support thing?

Yeah, _this_ Sakura is because Naruto stopped constantly supporting her in every turn. _This_ Sakura doesn't have anyone to praise her or keep her spirits up whenever she's rejected by Sasuke in one form or another.

Sakura while 1 dimensional in my series is unfortunately also 1 dimensional in Canon. Its to the point where Sasuke has more dept than to her at least in Part 1...and the latter half of Part 2.

Despite everything, Sakura and Chiyo vs Sasori was awesome.

Finally, I can now reply to reviews...


	20. Chapter 19 - Snapping at Sakura

**Chapter 19: Snapping at Sakura**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Awakening on the futon that was laid on the ground of the small room where he and his team slept; Naruto looked around and found that he was in Tazuna's home.

"Finally" he muttered to himself.

Naruto and his team as well as their client Tazuna finally got to this house with a good long hour walk where he and Sasuke had to drag their Sensei to said place.

For a man that looked quite thin, he was actually quite heavy.

Looking around he found that it was just dawn. He felt his stomach growl protesting for some food to be eaten.

"Yeah I guess I need something to eat after 'that'" he continued to speak to himself. The fight with Zabuza was hard and difficult and drained even him though not to the point of full one training that would blissfully knock him to unconscious if he did.

Besides that he needed to check up on everyone. He felt that Sasuke wasn't in the room but Sakura was still sleeping with a snore. If it's been him of two years ago then he would've found it cute.

Naruto just shrugged since some people snored and others don't. Though a Ninja shouldn't snore since they need to be quiet when sleeping.

Snoring and let enemies know where you are while you sleep is a stupid way to die.

Naruto looked and…Sasuke was…not here? He felt the raven haired team-mate wasn't there but to confirm it with his eyes made him confused. How did he tell that Sasuke wasn't there?

'Might be that I'm used to his presence now. Some people are known to know when other people are not there' he thought looking around the room more.

Sakura was asleep and he had a feeling that Kakashi was still asleep due to his Chakra Exhaustion. He had that kind of feeling so he really didn't bother trying to wake up his Sensei right now.

Okay.

Now this was getting a bit creepy if he could tell whether someone was asleep or not.

'Hmm…what kind of feeling is this?' he wondered though then shook his head as he got dressed. There was no problems since Sakura was still asleep and he be that she was asexual for everyone but Sasuke.

Speaking of the Teme.

'Wonder where the Teme might be…' he thought absently while yawning from his sleep; he walked down the stairs to see the black haired mother of this house. She was…what? In her thirties and yet looked like she was still in her twenties.

It did helps he had a pretty appearance.

What was her name again? Tsunoko? Tsunaki? No….Tsunami? Yeah, that was it. It was hard to catch her name when he and Sasuke needed to get Kakashi into bed to rest. Plus she had the look of 'But you're children' when they came through.

And that is the reason why Ninjas are so successful even at a young age. Underestimating people will kill in the Shinobi World. Along of many many other things.

"Morning" he half-heartedly said to the woman who smiled and said, "Good morning Shinobi-san. Your comrade went out a bit before you."

Oh, that explained a lot.

Gai and Lee got both of them in the habit of training early which meant waking early as well. The Teme was probably thinking and brooding or training. One or the other. He better meet with him to stop him from overtraining again.

"Here's breakfast Shinobi-san" Tsunami said kindly as the smell hit him.

On the other hand Naruto could go talk to him but there was delicious food in front of him at the moment so…

After eating for 5 minutes and his stomach not protesting as much, Naruto started to think about what happened. It was a habit he picked up with the Loops happening.

'Might as well think things through. Rather not rush into things and screw up something simple' he thought eating the food that Tsunami brought to him as she continued to cook.

The battle with Zabuza went well; as well as it could be with Naruto restricting himself to only at most 50 Shadow Clones at once. Any more than 100 would cause that masked boy a bit older than him to appear and take him down.

Which was an extremely bad thing since Naruto could tell that he was stronger than him and his speed was enough to bypass his Shadow Clones. In all, avoiding being taken out by such a person was a good thing in his books.

But the problems started to appear after the damn battle.

Sakura didn't even bother to do _anything._ Not even scout out the place or try to remotely look like she was guarding Tazuna. She was fawning over Sasuke while trying to put down himself and frankly it annoyed the heck out of both of them.

But enough about that and that lazy bitch.

He was in the next Checkpoint! His hard work which he worked harder than any other loops was now permanent from now on! His resistance seal was still on 1.75x which meant a 75% increase in speed when he used it but now he could train enough to go beyond that point!

Naruto found out an interesting thing about his muscles when he noticed that Sasuke was still at 1.5x on his own seal. With the Kyuubi healing him faster than a normal person could; his muscles would repair themselves faster than before as well.

Which meant he could train faster in physical conditioning than a normal person. Gai and Lee when they found out wept and said something about 'Youth' allowing him to and trained even harder.

Sasuke wasn't really paying much attention since he was too exhausted to complain and Kakashi simply shrugged since he was at a higher rate on the seal at a younger age.

Plus his Chakra reserves could possibly grow larger as well…which Naruto still didn't know was a good or bad thing. He needed a method to constantly increase this Chakra Control later…

But now Naruto was in the unknown. After basically a year training and training to get to the next part of the plot as the note he got said; he was excited wanting to know what could happen next.

Sure there was still the threat of Zabuza still being alive and such but _really_ at least they knew the man was going to try and kill them more opening now.

Click.

It was then that the door opened and a slightly more battered Sasuke appeared. Naruto didn't pay attention to his team-mate and instead opted to continue eating as if nothing was strange at all. Sasuke did the same and after another 10 minutes; Sakura appeared eating less than half of what the two boys ate.

Naruto sighed, 'Despite ALL of us telling her she needs to eat more…'

Yep, Naruto expected Sakura to die on this mission if not for the fact that the Time Loops pretty much saved her a couple of times.

'Now I wonder what will happen next…' he mused staring at the ocean outside.

* * *

Several hours later Kakashi woke up and Tsunami cleared away the food that Kakashi ate.

The strangest part was that no one even saw him eat. The food just vanished! Right now, the team and Tazuna were relaxing in the same room when Tsunami came back in with a mix of a worried and cross face.

"Are you alright Sensei?" asked the 29 year old widow mother.

The cyclops turned his eye to her and replied, "Yeah I just can't move for a week or so." Looking over, Naruto sighed thinking of a week without Kakashi to instruct him. That would make things harder to train new things.

Sakura looked startled at this and almost shouted out, "What? The Sharingan is incredible but-" Naruto couldn't help but snort, she had no idea how overpowered it is; "If it puts that much stress on the body I guess you need to have to think before using it."

Naruto couldn't help but to sweatdrop there. When do you NOT think about using a powerful tool? Plus there was something strange about Kakashi collapsing after that one battle. Was the burden too much for the body of a non-Uchiha or was it something else?

"Well we defeated that strong of a ninja this time. We should be safe for a while!" Tazuna added with a happy face while wiping his sweet off his face.

Sakura ignored the man to continue speaking, "By the way, who was that masked kid? I mean he couldn't be that much older! There's no way he's that strong to take down Zabuza like that! Not like Sasuke-kun of course!" she started to swoon to the Teme which immediately backed away behind Tazuna.

'Damn Fangirl' both blonde and raven haired team-mates thought at the same time. If Kakashi was displeased about this he didn't express it. But he still answered her question.

"Sakura, there are people in this world that are younger than you but stronger than me; it's how the world works sometimes. That boy's mask is worn by the Hidden Mist Hunter-Nin team meaning he's an elite among Ninjas" he explained, "They are also known in other parts as body erasers whose duty is to completely dispose of the body without a trace."

The cyclops took a glance at each of his students and said, "A Ninja's body has with it, secrets of the village's ninjutsu, information of different chakra types, herbs and other information that will reveal things about the village."

The man pointed at his closed eye under his headband and added, "For example if I die, the secrets of the Sharingan could be revealed and others could replicate it or a lesser version of it. If you're not careful then there is the danger that enemy-nin may steal your jutsu using your body. One example is of when Kumo tried to steal the secrets of the Byakugan and failed almost leading to the 4th Shinobi War."

The room tensed at this information and Naruto filed it away to search more about it later. This was the kind of thing you need to know.

"A Ninja's body can reveal important information. So by killing and disposing of the missing-nins who have abandoned their village, the hunter-nin protects his information from getting out there. They are the specialists who guard their village's secrets" The man sighed, "No sound. No smell. No body. That is a Ninja's end."

Sakura blanched and shrieked out, "Zabuza has been cut up and disposed of?! SCARY! Sasuuuke-kun~ Please hold me!" The pink haired girl immediately once again tried to molest the Teme as Naruto sighed even more.

Tazuna noted this and asked, "Hey is she really a ninja? I mean the rest of you are strong but…"

"I know" Naruto facepalmed seeing the pink haired thing trip and start crying, "Unfortunately she's stuck with us since teams are 3 maned when we graduate. A month of trying to chance her attitude and nothing changed in her at all. She's still dieting more than a normal civilian as well!"

"Is that bad?" the old man asked.

Naruto nodded, "Ninjas require at least 3 times the intake of food than normal people…dieting in any way will kill you later" he explained, "She's more civilian than ninja from the start with her attitude. She expects our job to be all sunshine and rainbows with people begging for her help and things to fix itself."

The man grimaced since he was risking his life to make the bridge. Sakura's attitude was close to what Gato's is in their attitudes.

One believed money gave him a right to everything while the other believed being a ninja gave her a right to what she wanted and to lord over others.

Naruto made a note to make sure nothing bad happens to their client if he's ever with Sakura.

* * *

Roughly an hour later and when everyone thought Kakashi was sleeping; Sakura had the great idea to try and find out what was under his mask.

Sasuke remained silent on the matter and was interested while Naruto contributed with a Shadow Clone as bait in case.

This was a wise decision for the blonde as the man in question shot up with eyes open.

"KYAAA!" Sakura screamed and backed away rapidly as if she stepped on something bad.

"…."

Meanwhile Naruto and Sasuke waited for the man to say something…after 10 seconds of silences Naruto had to ask, "What's wrong Sensei?" though he had a suspicion that his Sensei figured out that Zabuza was still alive.

"Well…body erasing teams usually dispose of the body of the person they killed right away" he explained. Naruto nodded getting it. So _that_ was how Kakashi figured it out.

"So what?" Sakura asked not getting it at all.

Shaking his head at her he asked, "Don't you see? How did that masked body dispose of Zabuza's body?"

"Huh?" Sakura once again spouted out, "How could we know? That masked guy took the body with him when he should have given everything to Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke shivered to that and moved away from Sakura even more and closer to Tazuna who gave the boy a pitying look of understanding.

"Yeah…" Kakashi used his ability to ignore the ending statement and continued not bothering to address it just yet, "If he needed proof of his work, he could have just taken his head. And the weapon that he used to kill Zabuza. Simple Senbons."

Sasuke's eyes widened to that in shock and fear muttering, "No way."

Scratching the back of his head Kakashi added, "Yeah, exactly" while Sakura and Tazuna sat there confused. Naruto was interested to know that you could put someone in a near-death like state so easily with such simple tools.

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna asked.

Kakashi paused dramatically and then said in a solemn tone, "Zabuza is most likely…alive!"

'And there he said it' Naruto looked on to see the reaction of everyone else. Sasuke figured it out so he wasn't shocked but it seemed to not be in the nature of Sasuke of be anything but cool and calm. The client's daughter Tsunami looked confused which was expected since she didn't know anything about Zabuza and was a civilian.

Tazuna and Sakura however were completely shocked with their mouths gaping. Well those two are the most likely to die when he appeared again.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, YOU CHECKED AND SAID HE WAS DEAD!" Sakura shrieked in an angry tone at her Sensei, pushing the blame onto him in her perspective. However no one followed up and Kakashi shrugged her outburst.

"Yeah I did but that was most likely just a momentary death" he explained, "The needle that was used were Sebons. Unless it hits a viral organ, it has a low probability of killing your opponent. It's even used by doctors in acupuncture therapy. Hunter-nins know about the body's structure thoroughly. Putting a person in a momentary state of death is probably easy for them."

He pointed up two fingers, "First he carried away of the much heavier Zabuza. Second he used a weapon that has a low probability of killing. These two points indicate that his motive was not to kill Zabuza but to save him. We can't ignore that possibility."

"Aren't you thinking too much?" Tazuna asked, "Hunter-nins are supposed to kill missing-nins."

However Kakashi shook his head and replied, "No, with all the suspicion we will prepare before it's too late. That's a Shinobi Rule. Plus whether Zabuza is dead or alive there is no assurance that Gato hired an even stronger Shinobi."

"…."

The room was silent when Naruto spoke up, "So we can also presume that we will face two enemies next time? That masked boy was at least Chunin level and we're-" he then looked at Sakura who didn't notice.

Kakashi nodded to his student before Sakura asked, "Sensei, what do you mean preparing before it's too late? You can barely move!"

'And yet he can still probably kill every last one of us in his condition if he felt like it' Naruto sweatdropped. Never underestimate a ninja; even more so when they are at least Jonin level. God forbid you try the same with someone Kage level.

"Simple. You guys will train" Kakashi stated as normal which took only Sakura for surprised again, "Huh? Training."

Her expression turned angry again and she shouted, "SENSEI! WHAT A LITTLE TRAINING GOING TO DO?! OUR ENEMY IS A NINJA THAT YOU STRUGGLED AGAINST EVEN WITH THE SHARINGAN!"

"Sakura who saved me while I was struggling? You guys are growing rapidly" he eye smiled, "Especially you Naruto. I read the reports from the Academy on all of you and you grew the most even more than Sasuke."

"Hn" Sasuke grunted.

"You grew a lot as well Sasuke" Kakashi assured him, "Both of you are getting closer to Chunin rank in strength now.

"How can that dead last get any stronger?!" Sakura shrieked out in disbelief, "There's no way he can get stronger! The Academy proved he was worthless! I'M THE TOP KUNOICHI OF THE YEAR HERE!"

The room was once again silent as a good amount of pressure came from the chakra that was coming out of Naruto's body. It wasn't killing intent but sheer pressure that came with power and Naruto had LOTS of Chakra which made it difficult for him to control it all when he was pissed off.

There were some things he could endure. The glares, insults and attacks from the villagers from time to time though now he was a Shinobi they can't touch him anymore without punishment. However for this piece of _trash_ as he believed to say that…

He was REALLY pissed here.

"Sakura" he stated in a chilling cold tone, "There were a total of three Kunoichi that graduated this year. Of the three of you, you are the only one without a clan backing her up. Ino and Hinata both have their clan techniques to fall under while you have nothing."

He was actually surprised he remembered the two. Their teams would occasionally meet in the passing.

"The Academy course has heavily focused on the more theory side of a Ninja's life to attract more civilians and encourage them to try to become ninjas. Over 70% of our grading comes that that alone. Hinata though with her confidence issues is the _best_ Taijutsu user in our year, _male or female_."

He let that fact sink in. While he still didn't know why she turned red and faint around him, he knew that she was good at Taijutsu at least. Even Sasuke fell short of her even if she doesn't show it.

"Meanwhile Ino is the second best in Taijutsu for females and also has the best overall score in our class; even higher than Sasuke here. And while she may be physically lacking like you are in ability, she has her Clan's Jutsus which are powerful and feared."

He looked at the pink haired girl again, "So tell me? How do you compare to them? No Clan. No Jutsus. No outstanding traits. Nothing to back you up as you are a First Generation Shinobi from a Civilian family with low Chakra Reserves. The only thing you have is Chakra Control and you haven't even bothered to find out ways to use that!"

Sakura was really afraid of Naruto right now. He wasn't loud, he wasn't obnoxious and wasn't clinging to every word she said.

And he was putting her down piece by piece and no one was coming to help her. And this strange pressure from the Baka was not helping; it was like the one that came out during that battle against Zabuza. She felt like something was pressing down on her.

But this was the Baka she was talking about so it couldn't be dangerous.

Therefore she gained some courage and superiority knowing he couldn't even touch her and stated, "So what? I'm still better than you! You don't even have decent Chakra Control!" she smirked finding that area always hurt him the most.

But Naruto did something she didn't expect. He laughed. He laughed at her, looking down on her.

"Do you know what the reverse Chakra Theory is?" he asked, "It is the theory that Chakra Reserves and Chakra Control are connected to each other where the higher one is, the lower the other is. And It. Is. True."

He pointed at her, "While I admit you have good Chakra Control; hell perfect Chakra Control that I will never get in my life even if I tried to; you in exchange have the lowest Chakra reserves in our graduating batch; hell even lower than most Academy Students!" he sneered at the end.

Pointing at himself he then added, "I on the other hand have the worse Chakra Control of our year; lower than most Academy Students" he smirked, "Well used to at least. My Chakra Reserves already rival Kakashi-sensei. And it will grow, it has been growing to the point that I constantly need to train my Chakra Control to have any control. By the time the year ends, I will most likely surpass Kakashi-sensei in Chakra Reserves and in a few years end up with Kage-level Chakra Reserves which would continue to grow for the rest of my life."

He added more Chakra leaking out from his body to empathise this.

"So tell me, which one seems more dead last. The one with nearly no Chakra in her body with perfect control over it. Or the one with nearly no Chakra Control but has an immense amount of it which can be used to unleash Ninjustu after Ninjutsu without end?" he asked as he glared at the girl in front of him.

"B-But you can't even use the Clone Jutsu!" she pointed accusing him of something he wasn't aware of.

Naruto snorted to that fact. If not for that he could've graduated a year early or maybe even 2 years early.

"Do you really think I need that E-rank Jutsu when I can make Solid Clones instead? A Jonin B-rank Jutsu and its Kinjutsu varient is what I learnt in mere _hours_ " he stated with a bored tone, "If not for the fact that I needed to fix up my Taijutsu and Chakra Control; I would've learnt more than a Dozen Ninjutsus by now."

"So tell me what you can do? Tell me what you _did_ do in the month you graduated from being a little girl to a Shinobi?" he asked with venom in his tone, "You did nothing. No training. No gain in ability. No gain in knowledge. You carried the least supplies of all of us in this mission. You failed to even attempt to do a half-ass job of _looking_ like you were protecting Tazuna. You stood there in fear as Kakashi-sensei was captured. You did nothing to help as me and Sasuke saved them. You did nothing to help carry Kakashi-sensei to this home. You are useless. You are a liability. You are no Ninja. You are a civilian trying to play one."

The room was silent from Naruto's harsh words. Sakura started to cry but no one was going to comfort her. A ninja's life was harsh and difficult. Those who did not know this and were ignorant of it will die sooner than later.

Kakashi sighed seeing he needed to cut this tension before it really destroyed the team. He knew that Naruto had changed since the Academy and grew stronger but didn't he used to have a crush on the girl?

He sounded like Minato-sensei when he did the same thing Naruto did to Sakura to someone who was like Sakura back when he was his team.

Needless to say the girl stopped being a Ninja the next day. It was a ground-breaking tone and feeling along with a list of your failures that break normal people. A good enough Ninja would not be too bothered by it. A good Ninja would note these failures and correct them.

"Mare mare" Kakashi waved getting everyone's attention just before Naruto started to leave the room who didn't want to be near Sakura right now, "Despite what Naruto said, this is just training until I get better. You won't be able to beat Zabuza without me either way."

He looked to see if Sakura had any questions who was silent before continuing, "A person who has been put in momentary death will not be able to use their full strength immediately. It takes a while before their body turns back to normal."

"And we train until that time?" Sasuke asked interested.

"Yes, I estimate Zabuza needs a week to fully recover before he moves again. So you all have a week to get stronger. This will be fun for you" Kakashi explained as Naruto nodded to that. He needed some alone time.

"That's not fun" a boy stepped into the room just when Naruto was about to exit. Naruto frowned not knowing who this boy is and placed a hand on his Kunai before realising his Chakra levels were too low to be even an Academy Student.

"OHH! Where were you Inari?" Tazuna shouted out excited in a somewhat fake tone. The experience with Naruto dressing down Sakura left him speechless and a bit afraid of the boy.

Naturally Inari didn't know what just happened and naturally dismissed Naruto before coming to his grandfather saying, "Welcome back grandpa."

Tsunami seeing this chance to do the same as her father immediately scowled at the boy in a motherly way and said, "Inari say hello to these people. They are Ninjas who protected Tazuna" while said grandfather patted his grandson on the head.

After a moment of looking at them Inari pointed and said, "Mum, they're going to die."

"…."

The said Ninjas in the room were silent on this statement. Kakashi knew better to respond and had experience with these kinds of people. Sasuke was the same and didn't care about the opinion of a brat and Sakura was still in shock due to Naruto.

"There's no way you can win against Gato" Inari stated as everyone was silent.

Therefore it fell onto to Naruto to say, "Doesn't matter. Our job is to protect Tazuna no matter what. We have protocol to eliminate anything in the way of this" to the boy before musing and adding the fact, "You do know that your Grandpa is a hero right? Not many would risk their lives for others and their country for civilians at least."

Inari looked at the blonde and in a sneer said, "What are you stupid? There's no such thing as a Hero? Don't tell me you want to be one?"

Naruto chuckled thinking of the fact that there was a certain demon fox inside of him which most of the village feared. They feared him. They feared the power he held. They feared the power that he could use.

And they left him alive since he was useful. A tool. A weapon to be used when they needed.

This might have been dark for Naruto but there were many things that were dark in the world; it just happened to be that most of them involved Ninjas in one way or another.

Because of this Naruto simply stated, "I'm a Ninjas of Konoha. If I am required to be a Hero than I will become one. The same is if I am needed to become an assassin, a bodyguard, a villain, a soldier or a weapon of war."

"If you don't want to die you should leave" Inari once again stated as Tazuna asked, "Where are you going Inari?"

"To look at the ocean from my room" he replied leaving. A few seconds later Naruto having enough for one day left before saying, "I need some alone time to calm myself."

A few seconds later he was on the other side of a door where Inari was held sobbing saying the word, "Dad" over and over again.

The feeling of wanting your parent and yet to never see them ever again; Naruto felt something similar to that in the past.

Questions on why he was alone, was he abandoned, did his parents die ran through his in his childhood more than he could count.

And it was such a relief when he knew he wasn't abandoned but rather his parents sacrificed themselves to protect them.

He was a Ninja, he could deal with it.

But like the Kyuubi, Gato had destroyed lives for the worse.

Naruto knew one thing right then. Gato needed to die.

* * *

 **A/N:**

So yeah, this chapter was pretty much how this Naruto felt about Sakura...which may also be my view of Sakura in part 1 as well.

Basically Sakura-bashing here.

I made my points in the story, not going to argue them a second time here.

But I just have to say one thing about Sakura's placement in Team 7. She's frankly boring and gives little to no dramatics to the story compared to the other three.

Ino would've been the same but she had the extra flare of having her mind Jutsus. Plus her Mind Jutsu would've been a good way for the other Genin in Team 7 to know about the Kyubi...well some may wish at things that never happened.

 _That_ could've been an interesting spin to the series at that point if Ino replaced Sakura.

Hinata...well instead of Sakura trying to woo Sasuke it would be more her trying not to faint in front of Naruto (And way funnier if Naruto was still as clueless as before. Also would give NaruHina haters less reasons why they scream this pairing would not work)

Furthermore Hinata was really just stronger than Sakura before the Timeskip in strength alone able to face off against Neji the Top Genin for a while, let alone speed and all that other stuff that Sakura seemed to lack before her training under Tsunade.

But with Sakura she...umm...chase after Sasuke...hits Naruto, some points where she actually does something useful before turning useless again. Really that's what she literally does for most of the series.

It also doesn't help that her first reaction to Garaa being defeated was 'Sasuke-kun did it!' instead of confirming anything else. Well considering her mindset for that, since to her Sasuke is stronger than Naruto and she fainted before the latter summoned the Toad Boss.

It's quite easy to see why and how Sakura thought it was Sasuke who beat Garaa.

Anyway, I'm going to discuss something completely unrelated to this chapter that a review pointed out.

 **Genjutsu**.

(Economy will come later since I have material on that in a later chapter)

Genjutsu is one of the funny things that never really get explored in the Naruto world that much despite it being a lot more Ninja like and even more lethal if done correctly.

See Itachi for that alone, taking on Jonins with Genjutsu.

To be blunt about it, Genjutsu is about controlling others. Its just that this series focuses more that Genjutsu is about using _Chakra_ to control others. There are so many other ways 'Genjutsu' can be used to manipulate something other than just shoving a very controlled amount of Chakra into someone's head to control what they see, feel and know.

Buuut I rather not talk about that right now.

According to Naruto wiki, Genjutsu counts as under the Yin Style of things which makes sense since Yin Chakra is essentially spiritual energy without the Yang or Physical aspect of it, or at least a much higher raitio of it.

And due to this, most people who specialise in Genjutsu have much lower reserves than Ninjutsu users like Taijutsu specialises since they focus on one aspect of the Spiritual and Physical parts that creates Chakra overall.

However a lowered reserves gives Genjutsu users and ironically Taijutsu users as well more Chakra Control than their Ninjutsu peers.

 _This is important_ mainly because Genjutsu involves the manipulation of the brain and with even a slight bit of research, anyone can tell _that_ is VERY hard to do without screwing up somewhere.

The cerebral nervous system is where Genjutsu affects and that controls the most of the functions of the mind and body. Basically this is saying that Genjutsu affects the brain and spine, so yeah it doe that.

Anyway, the question now is _how_ Genjutsu causes people to see illusions and such?

By manipulating the chemicals in the brain of course!

Now you have to be thinking that Genjutsu is similar to Medical Ninjutsu.

It _actually_ is when it comes to controlling someone. Medical Ninjutsu in essence is an _amplified booster_ to the human body. Chakra itself is a natural booster and allows people from jumping up higher from the ground, dampening blows to using Ninjutsus and such.

Medical Ninjutsu takes this booster quantity of Chakra and adjusts it for healing so _that_ particular trait is the most predominant compared to its other traits. But how Medical Ninjutsu is similar to Genjutsu other than that?

First both Genjutsu and Medical Ninjutsu involve the manipulation of the human body. Not many other things does that aside from the typical melt if you touch and so on.

Second is that you are using your Chakra and transforming it (Like Nature Transformation into Fire, Water and so on as well) specifically for a delicate task that _will_ fail without extreme control.

But back to Genjutsu alone.

Since we've established that Genjutsu for the most part controls the brain and anything connected to the spine (THAT second part is most likely how the Yamanaka Clan's Jutsu works, or at least the whole control your enemy to kill your enemy from afar part), we now can about how Genjutsu can control someone.

For example you could possible expand one component of the brain which controls a person's sense of fear and make them panic, another which influences their attention span to hide something from them and so on.

Induced blindness? Cut off the part that allows a person to response to it, same with the other senses.

Want someone to do what you want? Plant a subliminal message in their head. Want them to see something that's not there? Do the same with an image.

Want absolute control over someone?

Well this is where things get confusion since you are not ONLY trying to control their entire brain but also their entire Chakra System.

Wait! Doesn't Genjutsu only control the brain and such? Well...the thing is that the Brain is connected to the Chakra System. It is LITERALLY one of the 8 Gates and not only that but the FIRST Gate of the Chakra System.

Why do you think disrupting your Chakra actually breaks the Genjutsu or why opening one of the Gates could?

Tsukuyomi is an extreme example of complete control as it can trap someone so completely that it warps a person's sense as time as well. This Jutsu is essentially a complete control type Genjutsu for every sense a person has including sight and pain along with time perspective control as well.

And because a person's sense of time is warped, disrupting the Genjutsu is next to almost impossible since one attempt in the real world would be like several hours in the Genjutsu.

You are literally cut off from your body and any way to control your Chakra inside this Genjutsu making it next to impossible to break.

Yeah, and people wonder why this is one of the ultimate Genjutsus out there.

Due to the fact that there aren't many people in the higher up of Ninja ranks that are so easily taken down by 'Basic Genjutsu', Genjutus are more support than a primary method of fighting despite Tsukuyomi.

Mainly because there aren't many people who could use and make Genjutsu that are powerful to have complete control over someone. Hell Kurenai is probably one of the few who can along with Itachi in Konoha that can without the use of a Sharingan to aid them.

In all, Genjutsu can control a person's brain in ways that makes others think everything is normal and control what they can feel whether literally or emotionally through correctly pressuring or inflating parts of their brain which is also part of their Chakra System.

Therefore when faced with a Genjutsu user that can manipulate you like a puppet with a single finger or glance like Itachi, RUN!


	21. Chapter 20 - The Country of Waves

**Chapter 20: The Country of Waves**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Sometime later, Kakashi was on a crutch and moved with his team to a place nearby of the home of their client.

All three of his students were silent which was a strange thing since he expected things to be louder with them before he got them.

The main reason seemed to be Naruto.

Yes, the blonde whiskered boy was something unexpected for the copy-ninja. He was reported to be dead-last; a failure in Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and Genjutsu all the way compared to the prodigy Sasuke who was the opposite and Sakura who was a promising Kunoichi in her own right.

Oh the reports couldn't even compare to the real thing.

Upon seeing his team for the first time, it seemed that only Sasuke's report was correct in that he was strong for his age, was anti-social and was a loner. Sakura on the other hand wasn't the promising Kunoichi but rather a Fan-girl.

And Naruto?

Naruto wasn't dead last. In fact if he had a different name and appearance; Kakashi could've sworn he was an experience Genin at least. He was quick on his feet, moved with calculation and had a high amount of skill in Ninjutsu with a surprising mastery of the Jutsus he knew. His Taijutsu wasn't that impressive but combined with Shadow Clones…

The only thing correct about the report seemed to be his lack of attribute in Genjutsu.

Yes, Naruto was different from what he knew. He still had some guilt for not taking care of the boy when he was orphaned on the same day, the same _hour_ he was born but he was a teenager who was in ANBU and was carrying way too much to support a child of all things. He didn't want the boy to be as screwed up as him.

Of course there was that time when someone had the bright idea to try and poison him and later send an assassin in when that failed. Kakashi had _LOTS_ of fun making that foolish assassin spill his guts, metaphorically and literally.

Anyway back to Naruto.

The boy seemed…calm for the most part as if he was bored.

However in training there was this spark that appeared once in a while but it almost seemed like he was relearning something he had forgotten. Something that marked him as some sort of Genius.

And Kakashi would've believed that as well if not for the fact that he one day found out that Naruto had at least 200 Shadow Clones constantly training at once.

Whether or not he had talent; Naruto was effectively using his Shadow Clones to better himself.

That kind of thing let you survive in this kind of world. It was an unexpected find for a student to actively train themselves independently. A Sensei should be someone who guides the next generation not hold their hand for every step.

And any thoughts of being offended when he found out Naruto had kept this training from him was removed when said person also asked the most questions, asked for the most explanations on a wide variety of topics and even made Sasuke who was too stubborn to ask for help stronger as well as a result.

Sometimes he thought he was intentionally doing it showing some skill that he couldn't completely hide in one thing or another when he asked for a topic that Sasuke would excel in.

Needless to say that the Last Uchiha improved loops and bounds and became friends with the blonde due to this. He wasn't stupid to not see that Naruto was helping him along with himself.

Unfortunately neither boys liked Sakura that much especially with her attitude to training.

Naruto seemed to avoid her more than anything else now and Sasuke always did before so there was no change in his attitude to her.

What changed was Sakura who became even clingier to said crush which drove him even more away. Kakashi knew he better request a transfer for Sakura later on if this keeps on happening.

Now what to train them in…

Naruto already knew of the Tree Climbing and Water Walking Techniques but Sasuke and Sakura didn't. He supposed he could make them work on that first. Sakura would get it quickly with her low reserves and control but Sasuke would take a while.

Then he would have to deal with training both Naruto and Sakura at the same time.

'Well I get Sakura to guard Tazuna for the time being if she finishes quickly' he mused. He was subconsciously being lazy in training Sakura since she didn't do much training even with him prompting her.

"Now we're going to get started with Training" he said to his students, "First of all, can anyone tell me what Chakra is?"

Seeing this is the area of expertise Sakura smirked before reciting out the textbook answer, "Simply put, Chakra is the energy a Shinobi needs when performing a Jutsu. Chakra is the combination of spiritual and physical energies which are formed from the strength of your body and the experiences of your mind. So by bringing out and releasing Chakra, you can use a Jutsu. This is done through a process of performing seals with the hands."

Kakashi nodded since that is a good explanation and praised her a bit, "Good, Iruka has some good students" especially since her confidences was shot down thanks to Naruto.

"Heh" Kakashi said Sakura look at the direction of Naruto and felt something bad was going to happen again. Naruto was ignoring Sakura but Sakura wasn't going to let it go especially after all what he said to her.

He really tried to stop Sakura from blurting something insulting out but couldn't stop her in time.

"Of course someone like Naruto-baka who has no control can't even use it properly" she said with a smug look before adding, "Of course Sasuke-kun is the best at using his Chakra."

Kakashi expected for Naruto to either blurt out something insulting back to Sakura or to attack her…verbally he hoped for that but that didn't happen since Naruto turned to Sasuke and started explaining things to the Raven Haired boy much to the surprise of everyone.

"Jutsus are formed through hand-seals which are used to direct your Chakra to mold in a certain way. Each hand-seal forces your Chakra to move or shape in a different way and a string of hand-seals will form into the Chakra that will act a certain way. That is a Jutsu in a nutshell. Taking this approach the main reason why Jonin are so powerful other than the most obvious reasons is that they can shorten the number of hand-seals needed for a Jutsu. They can cut down a 20 hand-seal Jutsu into a mere 5 hand-seal one. For something simple like a Substitution Jutsu, they can do it seal-less which is another way of saying that they know how to form this Jutsu to the point they can do it even without hands. This split second speed advantage is often the decider of whether someone wins or dies. So it would be best to keep on using the Jutsus you know to a point where you can surprise someone in the speed you can use them. Power doesn't really matter that much if the enemy knows when you are attacking and can move to dodge" Naruto explained making a cross hand-seal and making a Shadow Clone-

-Before trying to hit it but with the Shadow Clone forming a quick 2 hand-seal and disappearing being replaced with a log nearby.

The Clone reappeared through the bushes waving its arm before the attention came back to the real Naruto. Kakashi was impressed, it usually took Genin a few months to get down their Basic Three to one or two hand-seals.

While basic, Kakashi knew that other countries _hate_ how Konoha Shinobi are so good at that particular Jutsu and even more so when all they keep hitting are logs. Even if the Jutsu takes a fair bit of Chakra to use; it is a good way to surprise and take down enemies or escape with a good deal of distance.

"Hn" Sasuke surprisingly nodded to this suggestion from Naruto. Kakashi suspected the boy was thinking of firing off Fireballs from his mouth without the need of hand-seals. God if he was able to do that a month ago in the bell test…

There was another reason why doing a Jutsu seal less was impressive. It was the fact that you could instantly use a Jutsu which meant no way of telling when that Jutsu could come out of you.

Using hand-seals molds your Chakra in a certain way but also allows others who are Chakra Sensitive enough (Pretty much all Jonin and above) to tell that you are doing so.

Doing it seal less wouldn't allow you to tell if you were doing a Jutsu until it was too late.

"Aside from using Jutsus, Chakra has many benefits to anyone who processes enough of it. For example Konoha citizens whom all have at least Academy Student levels of Chakra have an extremely low chance of catching colds or diseases unless their bodies are weakened or other factors" Naruto said, "Another benefit is that Chakra can be used to enhanced your body in several ways. The most basic way is to use Chakra to boost your speed and power enhancing your muscles. However you can also use to say enhance your sense of smell through your nose or sense of hearing through your ears and so on. This can also be done in reverse blocking out your senses so you won't fall to stink bombs or flash bombs as well."

Naruto pointed a finger up, "But to do all of this effectively and not hurt yourself you need a certain amount of Chakra Control. The Leaf Exercise gives you only the most minimum amount of control to use easy Jutsus. The Enhancement Techniques I talked about requires more Chakra Control than you currently have and if you don't have that Chakra Control you either put too little Chakra in and thus waste your Chakra or too much causing damage to your nose, ears or muscles which vary according to how much Chakra you overloaded. Too much and you could permanently damage your body or even cripple yourself which is why you need more Chakra Control to do these things and especially under supervision of someone experienced like Kakashi-sensei. So any questions?"

"…."

After the surprising explanation from Naruto everyone explanations everyone was silent. Even Kakashi was since he didn't know his Blonde Student was so knowledgeable of that topic. That was the sort of thing that experienced Genin or Chunin were taught.

"How do you know all of his?" Sasuke asked shocked to the point he didn't even call Naruto a Dobe (though he knew he wasn't one and it was an ongoing gag between the two).

Naruto shrugged and said, "The library. There are who scrolls on lots of stuff that you can learn from and I've only seen the Genin section. The Chunin section is also in the library but I have no idea where Jonin find information to learn from."

"Y-You…read?!" Sakura blurted out suddenly making Kakashi sigh but even more so shocked when she pulled out a Kunai and threw it at him.

"NARUTO!"

However-

Poof.

-That Naruto turned into smoke being hit. From the bushes where the Clone Naruto was; the real Naruto came back to the team with Sasuke in shock and Kakashi looking to bury Sakura somewhere and say Zabuza killed her in the previous battle.

Glaring at the girl Kakashi warned her, "Sakura, if you dare attack a team-mate _ever_ again, I will personally rip your arms off. It's one thing to abandon your team-mate and become worse than trash but a completely another thing to attack them and possibly kill them!" he growled.

Sakura took several steps back before falling down on the ground as she felt the killing intent that was once directed to Zabuza be directed to her, though on a much lower scale.

"Anyway" Kakashi ignored her for the moment and said, "Before Naruto started on his own explanation on something more advanced for a Genin, I was about to tell you a way to increase your Chakra Control."

Sasuke perked up to this though Naruto suspected it was going to be Tree Climbing which he was sure Sakura didn't learn it as well.

'Looks like I can start those two on Tree Climbing at least' the Jonin thought before throwing two Kunai in front of Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura…screamed due to the slight killing intent he sent her earlier but he ignored her again to at least start them on something before anything else stops him from.

Such as Naruto and Naruto.

"The exercise you two will be doing is called Tree Climbing. The premise of this exercise is to stick vertically on the tree and move up and down it using only Chakra to aid you" he explained before moving slowly to the tree and started walking up it casually making both Sasuke and Sakura gap at him.

"When you master the technique enough you can walk up like this but for now I want you two to start off with running to give you a slight boost" he ordered but neither started since they were looking at Naruto.

He seemed to understand this and asked Kakashi, "So what am I going to do Sensei? Shouldn't I be doing this same exercise as well?"

"Like you could Baka! I bet Sensei didn't want to waste time with you!" Sakura started to insult Naruto again but no one paid attention to her now. She was like background noise that you needed to filter out when something no as intellectual comes out.

"Actually Naruto already mastered this along with the next stage of this exercise; Water Walking already in his own time" Kakashi explained.

""What?!"" the two other Genin shouted at once while Naruto looked on nervously. It seemed that Naruto was surprised that he knew that he was training on his own. But he rather talk to the blonde about it alone; he could give the boy some tips here and there after all.

He created a Shadow Clone…something he shouldn't be doing in his current state but he wanted to talk to Naruto alone and he couldn't leave his other students not supervised for their training.

"Anyway you two get started while I'll talk to Naruto about what kind of training he could do" Kakashi waved to his students as he walked a fair distance away from them and hidden from sight. He looked down at the blonde whom he couldn't see his eyes currently.

* * *

Naruto was panicking right now.

How did Sensei know? How did he know? What did he find out? Was he in trouble? Was he going to say he was a spy?

He could know that he couldn't have grown so quickly like that. He was going to be punished now.

"Naru-" His Sensei started but Naruto cut him off.

"Sensei…are you mad at me?" Naruto asked Kakashi with a low tone filled with guilt.

He felt his Sensei sigh to this and became even more worried due to that. There were many things that he could do now that they were alone.

Naruto had to admit that he wasn't exactly the most close to Kakashi. Hell no one was from what he could tell. Who would know he was a Demon hater?

He didn't want to be beaten up again.

"No I'm not mad but I do believe you should've came to me directly if you were to train without the team. I need to know at what level everyone is to make the right call on what missions we do" Kakashi explained which made Naruto a bit more relieved.

"So…you don't hate me?" he asked timidly. Now was the bend or break. He hope it was neither and it was a misunderstanding.

"What?!" Kakashi exclaimed in shock, "Why would I hate you? If I did then I wouldn't have requested to be your sensei. Besides that; out of everyone I know you have the most potential."

"Eh? But Sasuke easily learn stuff from you while I have to use Shadow Clones to quickly gain the experience to keep up" Naruto blurted out. Even after a year for Naruto to train in; Sasuke was still better than him in Shurikenjutsu and the likes that involves Ninja tools…plus Taijutsu and several other things.

Hell the only things that Naruto was sure of that he was better than Sasuke is in are in the form of Chakra Reserves (Something he had way too much of), Chakra Control (Which was due to his VERY long time in practising it and Sasuke would soon get better than him in it either way), Stealth (Due to years of pranking and Trapping (Also due to years of pranking).

In everything else, Sasuke was currently better than him and it would be hard to catch up in the future even without Shadow Clones if what he knew about the Sharingan was correct.

"Really? I find that you would probably become stronger than even me in a few years or at least an equal with your massive Chakra Reserves that continue to grow and Shadow Clones to aid you. You could become like the Saindaime or even more powerful in his style of fighting" Kakashi exclaimed while placing his hands on Naruto's shoulders reassuringly.

Naruto was partly shocked. He had read the basis of the ability Hokage-jiji had with Ninjutsu. He didn't have the most powerful affinity to any jutsu nor was he the top at Genjutsu or Taijutsu. What he had was complete mastery of all 5 basic elements.

But he didn't stop there; no Hokage-jiji went further than that and somehow managed to combine jutsus together to create new stronger Jutsus with ease. And the most monstrous fact about that was that he did it alone without a Shadow Clone to aid him.

The speed in which it would take to do that was beyond even other Kages in sheer difficulty.

It also didn't help that apparently Hokage-jiji could just combine Jutsus even without releasing them when he was younger and his body could take that. The difficulty was so high Naruto doubt he could ever get to that point.

He tried; trying to make Transformed Shadow Clones failed badly and exploded on him.

But Kakashi said that he could possibly become the next Hokage-jiji in his ability…hmm…he did need a goal and what better goal was to replicate the fighting style of the Saindaime Hokage.

What Naruto didn't notice was that Kakashi was smiling down at his student. Good, his student now had a goal and he didn't doubt that in a few years there would be another 'Shinobi no Kami' in Konoha's ranks.

"Naruto" with that one word, Naruto looked up at his Sensei.

With an eye-smile Kakashi then asked, "So now that we have determined that I do NOT hate you and want the best for you; let's start with our training. I'm surprised you didn't come to me earlier. If I've known your ability I would've taken up a C-rank with the team much earlier."

Naruto's ears perked up to that.

"So you're saying if I did come to you then we were more likely to get a C rank mission early?" Naruto inquired with some shock. It seemed he didn't know that Kakashi would _never_ take a mission with risks that would harm his team unless they could handle it.

Unless the missions was mislabelled and they had to do it anyway of course.

"Not necessarily" Kakashi shrugged it off, "But I would more likely choose a C-rank that involves subjugation rather than protection."

The two stared at each other for a few moments. One was surprised that his Sensei had that amount of trust in him despite hiding so much including about the Time Loops and the other was proud of the progress he had made in a single month since becoming a Genin.

Needless to say Naruto broke the silence first by asking, "So do you want to teach me a new Jutsu or do you want to comment on what I can do right now?"

Kakashi mused and was tempted to do the former but with Zabuza still out there and that unknown variable that was the Fake Hunter-nin; he wanted to know how much he could place on Naruto's shoulders.

"I say let's see what you got. I have a guise of it from spying on you but I don't know everything. Let's start with Ninjutsu first since you are the Ninjutsu type despite the lack of higher powered ones" he said while taking out his Orange Book.

While he wasn't completely ignoring Naruto; he really had no need to not commit to his hobbies at the same time. If Naruto was offended with this, there was no indications at all.

Naruto nodded and made three Shadow Clones. One made a single hand-seal and transformed into Kakashi, the second throwing a Kunai to the third and the last making three hand-seals and substituting with a nearby log.

"Yeah, that's pretty much all I have in the Ninjutsu department. My Transformation is top notch and can easily be done with one hand-seal, my Substitution is above average with me needing three hand-seals; I'm still working on reducing that to one hand-seal by the way and the last thing I have are Shadow Clones which can range from one to more than a thousand if I wish."

Kakashi noticed with a raised eyebrow that each executing of these Jutsu were smooth and were with a small amount of mist. A sign that Naruto had a good amount of control over the Jutsus and often used them.

"Naruto though I probably know the answer to it already but why don't you create a thousand Shadow Clones for training or battle?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes and said, "Other than taking most of my Chakra with it? I find that too many Shadow Clones will just bombard me with too much information when they dispel at once. Plus it's hard to hide me using so many to train. Plus with less Chakra in each of them; they are limited in what they can do aside from charging and dying and with numbers comes a higher frequency of them dying one way or another."

Kakashi nodded understanding the difference between quantity and quality. He heard of the battle with Minato-sensei driving off Iwa by slaying the majority of their forces in one go.

That made him a Hero to Konoha and a bogeyman to Iwa at the same time.

Moving on from that, Naruto had a very good mastery with the Transformation and Substitution Jutsus.

Hell Naruto was better than some Jonin at those Jutsus from what he saw. He expected Naruto to get the Jutsus down to its seal less forms in a few years max.

However Kakashi was a bit worried about Naruto's lack of Jutsus. Well he could easily teach him a couple in a week with Shadow Clones at least. There were several which would benefit Naruto quite a bit.

The Body Flicker Jutsu for instant movement.

The Earth Style: Hidden Mole Jutsu was something that would allow him to hide underground. Though the Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu was more effective in surprise attacks.

The Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu would be another good addition to what Naruto could do.

He or one of his Shadow Clones could easily drag an enemy into the ground with it.

So in all, Kakashi had three Jutsu which would make Naruto a danger to anyone below Chunin level that worked well with his Shadow Clones…but there was the issue of his Element Affinity. If he was a Lightning Element like himself it would be difficult to learn Earth Jutsu.

But Kakashi was a person who copied a thousand jutsus and thus also mastered using all 5 basic elements to do so. He had plenty of Jutsus that Naruto could use with his massive reserves and combined with Shadow Clones.

With a flick of his page and the thoughts of which Ninjutsus Naruto would learn in the week Kakashi said, "Good enough for now but we really want to expand your Ninjutsu list in the week. Next up is Taijutsu and since I can't spar with you right now you need to use Shadow Clones against each other."

"Right."

And with that Naruto made two more Shadow Clones after he dispelled the remaining ones before making one of the Shadow Clones use the same Jutsu to split himself into 20.

Without a word, Kakashi watched as a single Shadow Clone faced against 20 Shadow Clones.

The 20 Shadow Clones rotated around the lone Shadow Clones and split into attacking close range, attacking long range or striving around seeing if there is an opening. However after a few seconds the lone Shadow Clone popped.

With a sigh Kakashi told his student, "Naruto, its better if you could fight your clone and not as a Shadow Clone. Unless you have a way to make Shadow Clones take more hits then you personally need to do this."

'Make Shadow Clones take more hits? More durable…? Hmm…that could be a good side project for me' Naruto mused before nodding and fighting against the horde of Shadow Clones that only slightly thinned out.

The Shadow Clones started off like before and Naruto knew at this rate he was going to be trapped.

He was being pushed around by dodging attacks rapidly from all sides; he had to keep a look out behind him constantly as well. However unlike a Shadow Clone, Naruto could take hits.

And he took them and slammed his fist into one Shadow Clone at a time.

After a minute of this and seeing the two styles Naruto had Kakashi halted them to say, "This area needs some work."

Naruto huffed a bit due to the workout but did not say anything else as Kakashi spoke, "While Gai is a the leading Tajutsu Master Konoha has; he doesn't have much expertise in using Shadow Clones to fight in a mass amount of them especially."

Naruto nodded, Gai was indeed straining his brain trying to find a good style for him to fight in.

"Another thing" Kakashi added, "Lose trying to use several Taijutsu styles. It's dragging you down frankly and made you weaker in your offence."

"Huh? What do you mean? My Taijutsu is finally getting better!" Naruto retort with some anger. Many Loops were spent on trying to get to his level especially with his muscle memories resetting. Seeing the anger of his student Kakashi quickly waved his hand (the one without the orange book) and said, "Oh I don't mean complete forget everything. Gai and the Hyuga Clan are good examples on how extreme Taijutsu is powerful."

"However you are neither of them and have more than enough Chakra to use high level Ninjutsus over and over again" Kakashi held a hand up, "There are no Taijutsu styles that would allow you to spend time using hand-seals without giving enemies openings. Furthermore there isn't a Taijutsu style out there that I know of that caters around a large amount of Shadow Clones…a small amount like 2-3 but not up to 20 or more."

"That is why I said not to focus on several Taijutsu styles at once" Kakashi stated, "We need to train you in the ways of using Shadow Clones in battle bit by bit. You have the right idea on 'pushing' using attacks to force someone to an area but you're not looking at the big picture here."

With an eye-smile the Jonin said, "Who said you needed to attack to manipulate someone?"

Naruto grinned as he was starting to figure what Kakashi was talking about. If attacking someone to a certain place didn't work then let them attack to that certain place? Hell by letting the enemy destroy one Shadow Clone, he could perfectly trap them in an even tighter formation.

Just as he was about to spout out on ways to do this Kakashi crushed his hopes saying, "But before that I want to see your capabilities in other areas since this along with Ninjutsu are what we are focusing on~"

"Ahhhhh…." Naruto pouted as they went through each and every area Naruto had studied under.

His level of expertise were as shown below:

Ninjutsu: Genin

Taijutsu: Genin

Genjutsu: Academy Student

Fuinjutsu: Basic level

Bukijutsu (Weapon): Low Genin

Chakra Reserves: Low Elite Jonin

Chakra Control: High Genin

Stealth: High Chunin

Trapping: Chunin

Body Strength and speed: Genin

Naruto in summary was able to break out of the most basic Genjutsus but nothing more advanced than that.

Kakashi commented he needed to learn how to identify Genjutsus in the first place and left it for later.

With Fuinjutsu, he was impressed that Naruto was already at a level where he could make good explosive notes and storage seals but needed more material to learn.

Kakashi made a note to give Naruto some of the intermediate and advance Fuinjutsu books later.

With anything weapon related Naruto was so-so being of barely Genin level. It was obvious the blonde knew how to use them but wasn't an expert in it. His aim and speed was not bad though.

With his Chakra Reserves, it was growing quickly!

He was sure it was at around Jonin levels when he graduated but in a month he was already in Elite Jonin levels. At this rate he would have Kage-level reserves by the next Chunin exams in _months_ let alone years.

Kakashi had a feeling it was due to Naruto eating better…and his reading habits now. There were many questions on how _large_ his physical energies must be if he had Jonin reserves with just that and nearly no spiritual energies to mix with.

In all, his Chakra Control was actually find with Naruto being able to balance leaves and tree-climb or water-walk and several combinations of that.

Kakashi actually knew some more advance versions that only ANBU are taught. He would make an exception for Naruto considering his reserves…

Kakashi knew of how good Naruto was at Stealth and Traps due to his pranks.

There was that one time that he actually managed to cover the ANBU headquarters…which was hidden as an ordinary building in orange!

Oh Kakashi knew that Naruto was going to surpass him one day-the question was when.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Well this is the beginning of another series of Naruto training.

However now his training also includes Jutsus as what Kakashi said in the chapter. Two Jutsus in particular would really have complimented Naruto's Shadow Clones.

The Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu and the Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu are both highly underused even in Fanfiction as far as I'm concern.

I mean you have one Jutsu that lets you travel underground and another to pull others **into** the ground up to their heads.

This with Shadow Clones is literally asking to be used _together_.

Too bad I don't intent Naruto to have a easy time in the next battle on the bridge.

But more on the thing I want to talk about here, Elemental Jutsus in general.

They pretty much fall into two categories as far as I can see. Overpowered and overused and overpowered and once used.

Jutsus such as Rasengan, Chidori and so on used to the thump cards of Naruto and Sasuke in Part 1 became a stable Jutsu to often use in Part 2 to the point that it's not funny.

I mean Kakashi had Kamui which he didn't have in Part 1 but everything was the same...except that Lightning Wolf thing he used against Pein.

In part 2, both Naruto and Sasuke seemed to have developed even more powerful Jutsus than the two A-rank Finishers to use but at the same had degraded said A-rank Finsher Jutsus as battle openers of all things.

Naruto in the end had Wind Style: Rasenshuriken also fell into this trap which by the time the end of the series happened as a spamming thing as well when before when he created it he could barely make **one**.

Sasuke's original Jutsu Kirin? You know, that one that forced Itachi to use Susanno in battle? Yeah, that was a **one time thing** apparently, never to be used ever again.

Don't even make me think of all those Rasangan variants and those random Amaterasu variants as well.


	22. Chapter 21 - Shadow Clone Combat

**Chapter 21: Shadow Clone Combat**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

The day pretty much ended with Kakashi telling him to think of the ways he could use Shadow Clones more effectively in battle than right now.

He also had to check on Sasuke and Sakura on their training so he couldn't just focus on him. Though Naruto snickered since that was an afterthought for Kakashi especially since he was the one to remind him of that.

Iruka never allowed him to Tree-Climb without him watching…at least with him actually doing it and not Shadow Clones.

Naruto shrugged and agreed since he knew he had an almost infinite amount of time to learn off Kakashi.

He could explain him knowing certain Jutsu later as him practising them without him knowing or just using a mass amount of Shadow Clones to explain his proficiency in them.

"Hey Sensei!" Sakura waved cheerfully on top of a branch near the top of the tree

The two arriving noticed that the Kunai that Kakashi had thrown at the pair stuck at the edge. Naruto noted to the side was Sasuke who was impressively a third up on the first day.

The Tree Climbing exercise take a Genin around a week to master though there were some exceptions being himself and Sakura in the extremes. For those with higher than the average Chakra Reserves; it would take longer with Naruto taking at least a month to get it down perfectly even with Shadow Clones aiding him (Though without proper life and death motivation to aid him).

Sakura on the other hand took a matter of hours or even shorter-

"This exercise is really easy! I got it on my first go!" she cheered though unintentionally insulting Sasuke in the process.

-Or even on the first go.

Naruto shook his head since that's what perfect Chakra Control did for you. All Sakura needed was simply to train on that, improve her stamina and Taijutsu for close combat and add in some Genjutsu before becoming a Medic-nin to become something special. Hell she could've gotten the Chunin rank for just that.

And she wasted all that talent on merely being a Fan-girl. What a waste of potential.

"Ho? So Sakura managed to climb up the tree in one go?" Kakashi mused not being surprised at all. However the Tree Climbing exercise was two-fold with the control part only half of it.

"So how many times did you climb up that tree? What is your time limit of doing his exercise?" he then asked in a bored tone though had that 'I already know the answer but will make you tell me anyway' look on his face.

"Umm…" Sakura looked around not sure what to say but muttered out, "Once?"

Kakashi outwardly sighed at his female student's actions and explained, "Chakra n laymen terms is like a muscle. The more you use it; the more it grows but you need to direct it in a certain way to control it.

Perhaps I should've explained that Tree-Climbing is also meant to build up your reserves like the Leaf Exercise."

"Hn. So we have to keep on doing this until when?" Sasuke asked stopping his attempted climbs.

"Well until you can stand completely still vertically on a Tree ideally. That's when you most likely have mastered it enough" Kakashi added, "Though you could take it further to add on using the Leaf Exercise at the same time."

A slight glance was all that Naruto needed to know his Sensei was referring to him.

"But most Shinobi master Tree Climbing and Water Walking to get enough control for the majority of the Jutsus they can learn" he added as an afterthought, "Those who take the extra method usually are trying to learn more chakra control intensive jutsus or have larger reserves like Naruto here and have to do so to get enough Chakra Control."

"Hn. Just need to train more to increase my reserves" Sasuke finally said after a few moment before starting to train again.

Naruto nodded and added, "Yeah, plus you already had more reserves than civilian born Ninjas. Those from clans, have bloodlines of some sort or have a special condition tend to have more Chakra Reserves starting off than others. Plus Clan members tend to train in their family's Jutsus as well causing them to increase their Chakra reserves that way as well" he shrugged at the end.

"And which of those do you fall under?" Sasuke asked curiously.

While he was part of the Uchiha Clan, he also had the Sharingan Bloodline in him; he could understand him having above average reserves for his age.

However he didn't know why Naruto had even larger reserves.

"All of the above" Naruto stated ignoring the warning glance Kakashi gave him.

Talking about the Kyubi was a bad idea in front of Sakura but Naruto had no intentions to letting that piece of information out especially when Sakura could easily spin a story where he was going to kill her/he is a demon to everyone else he knew to spite him.

Not that she would out of fear at least at the beginning. One slip up was all it took and frankly Naruto couldn't see her NOT slipping that up later on.

It was kinda sad to know about someone you should be able to consider family.

Konoha took the notion that the team was your family to a literal state at least for ninjas that is. Someone you fought, bled and almost die with is someone you can trust sometimes even more than blood family.

In that sense, through Kakashi Team 7 had an extended family that they would literally rely on if Kakashi ever asks or kicks the curb too early.

"Though the special condition is person and I don't want to talk about it. Like with Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan or what happen that night with you" Naruto added causing said two people to flinch a bit at the memories while Sakura remained blissfully unaware.

"Hmm…" Kakashi mused, "Though I DO know you are part of the Uzumaki Clan and they were distant cousins of the Senju Clan and partly helped found Konoha…I didn't know they had a bloodline."

Sasuke was immediately more interested that Naruto was distantly related to a former rival clan to his and that he actually had a bloodline. Over time Naruto managed to get the story of his clan…unfortunate end out of him and had agreed to help but not to interfere in the battle if he could.

With the massive number of Shadow Clones Naruto could make and that they could send back information of what they did to him made one of the few perfect tracking tools where death by being found didn't matter.

And now he also had a bloodline on top of that?

"Dobe is your bloodline powerful?" Sasuke asked though impolitely which caused Kakashi to glare at him a bit.

Kakashi had no comment since this was up to Naruto and Kakashi himself was interested in said possible bloodline. Even Sakura was interested in this.

"It could be depending on me since Bloodlines are another tools to train with and not to depend on" Naruto made that remark for when Sasuke actually managed to activate his Sharingan.

He didn't want the Teme to completely depend on it and…die.

"But for some reason my Bloodline can be split into a combination of three parts" he held out three fingers, "The first and most common is called the Uzumaku Body which is a stronger body which means more stamina, better endurance, pain tolerance, healing factor and sch. I KNOW I have this one since you guys seen me go on training for hours more than most Jonin. Plus this adds onto my Chakra reserves as well."

Everyone nodded, he was a freak of nature like that.

"The second is called Uzumaki Chakra which is more powerful Chakra but I have no idea if I have it or no. Apparently those with this part of the Bloodline can condense their Chakra so much that they can make weapons or chains from it" he added, "Never tested it since I don't even know how to start to do it if I have that part of the Bloodline."

Sasuke mused thinking of the many Shadow Clones Naruto could make…and add in all of them making weapons from their Chakra. Yep, he wasn't going to fight the Dobe every again if he had this power. Not even the Sharingan can stop a thousand chains from wrapping around him.

"And the last?" Kakashi asked though remembering a certain red-haired who created chains in battle…and when she was angry.

"Sensing to the highest degree called Uzumaki Sensing" Naruto stated bluntly.

"Isn't that kinda…" Kakashi started but Naruto cut him off, "To the highest degree meaning they could sense emotions and better yet sense malice meaning they could _never_ be ambushed and _any_ and _every_ attempt of an attack would be seen through."

Kakashi was honestly speechless. That level of sensing was beyond anyone he knew of…to sense malice itself was not uncommon but to sense intent itself? That could allow them to immediately know whether someone was an ally or not. It was…frightening that such an ability existed.

With a sigh Naruto ruffled his hair and said, "I don't know whether I have this or not as well…though if I ever collapse out of nowhere when there is a large number of people wanting to kill me…well I know there are levels of sensing to this which Hokage-jiji talked about as well as with the Uzumaki Chakra."

He left the rest unsaid.

It was then that Sakura got the courage to speak up and asked, "So if your clan was so great, why did they die off?"

All three males there flinched. Naruto for the stupid question, Sasuke because that could easily be asked of his clan as well and Kakashi since he knew history and what it took to take the Uzumaki Clan out of the spotlight of power in the world.

"Actually they didn't die off but rather were attacked" Naruto stated in an emotionless tone to Sakura.

This girl was really good at angering him now that he didn't have a crush on her, "The Hidden Village of Whirlpool is actually located a bit north of Wave and is in ruins. But my Clan was not simply killed off on a whim but rather were targeted for a long time."

Seeing that Naruto didn't want to explain further, Kakashi who also knew did especially since he lived with an Uzumaki before and knew the story from her…hmm…he wondered if the Saindaime told Naruto of his mother yet…his father was off limits of course but…

"After the Second Shinobi War, every nation suffered a great deal though Konoha wasn't in a bad shape seeing we were on the winning side in the end. Whirlpool however didn't take place in the war that much only to aid their allies; Konoha. Due to this and their already high wealth; Whirlpool pretty much held a lot of power in sea trade" Kakashi explained, "Which caused Kumo and especially Mizu to dislike them to the point they allied with each other and a number of smaller countries and headed out to destroy that village."

"On another note, at the same time Iwa agreed to stall Konoha by skirmishing our land which was another reason of why the Third Shnnobi War happened" Naruto helpfully added.

"So? Two of the Great Nations attacked. It was natural they died off so easily" Sakura simply stated remembering something about an ally being attacked at the same time when the Third Shinobi War was beginning.

Naruto snorted and said, "Whirlpool was literally an island surrounded by Whirlpools making it one of the more dangerous natural defences a Shinobi Village could have and want in open waters. There are reasons for the names of each Hidden Village."

"The Village Hidden in the Mist is literally hidden in the Mist. The Village Hidden in the Sands has sandstorms and the heat is enough to create a natural illusion to hide in. The Village Hidden in the Stone is located in a place so naturally suited to hide that the Konoha/Suna forces in the Third Shinobi War actually circled around their village before realising it was there. The Village Hidden in the Clouds is also literally hidden by the clouds and would be next to impossible to find if not for people going in and out the place all the time. Then there's our Village Hidden in the Leaves. The Shodaime's Forest and the Trees are unique that not only are they large and stronger than any natural trees but they never lose their leaves making us literally hidden in the leaves instead of a Village Hidden in the Woods."

Naruto looked and each and every one of them, "The Village Hidden in the Whirpools or Uzu was hidden because no one wanted to get near the Whirlpools in the first place. Plus my Clan were known for our Fuinjutsu which could've easily made a storm out when they attacked."

Kakashi gravely nodded remembering said legendary Fuinjutsu used on him…primary as pranks and such, "Indeed. All of this and a combination of what I now know as their Bloodline allowed them to evacuate their civilians to Konoha while they faced the enemy. The battle lasted a full week with a mere 100 from the Uzumaki Clan and other Shinobi there adding up to no more than 1000 in total against a full 30 000 enemy Shinobi…and not one enemy survived at the cost of the Uzumaki Clan."

Sasuke and Sakura were gaping now. Konoha right now had at most around 12 000 Shinobi on active duty and maybe 5000 more inactive.

Plus it half of those forces were actually _Genin_ and not only that but career Genin that would never get promoted. Konoha after over a decade after the Kyubi attack was finally regaining its strength in numbers but also quality.

Naruto had read about the forces back during the Third Shinobi War and even the Secodn Shinobi War and found a common point.

There were at most only 500 Jonins in total that the village had during peace times and up to 1000 Jonin during the heaviest part of war even if those numbers quickly dropped back down to 500 Jonins near the end of a war.

And apparently that was intentional under the orders of the Shodaime which the Nidaime and Sandaime supported all in turn.

Deception at its finest where there were many Chunins that were skilled enough to become Jonin. Many stayed at Special Jonin but there were those rare who actually made it pass Jonin and into the Elite Jonin level.

The Elite Jonins were there to intimidate enemies and show off that they had _power_ in those forces backed by a good deal of other skilled fighters that may or may not add their ranks into the true Elites.

Due to this set up, there were at best a dozen Elite Jonins, 500 Jonin a thousand or so Special Jonins and the rest split between Chunins and Genins. And that's not even counting ANBU who counts in numbers officially but unofficially were much more skilled than they were ranked.

Who said ANBUs were the elite of the village?

Even in their ranks, Jonin ANBU were hard to find since they rather stay at Chunin or Special Jonin at best and the fact was that most Ninjas couldn't hide as well as they should compared to ANBU.

However the small abnormality was when there were Elite Jonins or those equal to that rank in ANBU. They could still be ranked Chunin as far as the village knew but on record there was _only_ one Elite Jonin ANBU and that was only when he retired and rejoined the rest of the ranks.

And that person was in front of him as his teacher.

Even he _couldn't_ even a thousand of him defeat a force that large with those numbers. Killing 30 enemies was easy enough alone. Having to deal with 30 000 enemies at once even back with a thousand as skilled as you would probably kill you.

With larger numbers, the proportion of the battle going bad was much higher.

And Uzu did not have 1000 Elite Jonin to fight for them but a small force that consisted of Jonins, Chunins and Genins spread out evenly.

Seeing the expressions on his students' faces Kakashi chuckled and said, "It IS a large number but back then there were more Shinobi in general since every country is demilitarising right now…with the exception of Kumo."

"Plus during the Third War, the Third Raikage in order to save his men stood and fought off 10 000 Iwa Shinobi over 3 days and 3 night before dying" Naruto added though part of him didn't want to undermined his clan's achievement in taking down 30 000 enemy Shinobi in one battle.

Hearing all of this about a clan that he was pretty sure was only referenced once or twice at best from what he remembered, Sasuke asked, "So you're studying Fuinjustu as well then?"

Naruto smiled to that and answered, "Yep, almost finished the basic level where I have storage seals and explosive tags. I heard cool stuff about the advance level dealing with elemental chakra and time and space dimensions so I want to work towards that!"

Sakura on the other hand was silent; afraid of what Naruto could do to her now. He had a Clan and furthermore a Bloodline! Konoha lived Bloodlines and prided themselves based off them! The Baka literally had a HIGHER standing than her now!

The shock from him putting her down badly wore off and now she was starting to feel the effect of not having his support anymore and even became vicious to her!

Everyone in her team were parts of Clans or had Bloodlines! Sakura remembered that her Sensei was part of a Clan or something and was the last member or something. Plus he was powerful enough to train Sasuke-kun!

She had to do something to make sure she wasn't at the bottom of the team. She HAD to get something to allow her to be above at least the Baka.

But those thoughts thankfully stopped when her Sensei ordered, "Sakura. If you have enough time to sit there; go train up your reserves. That way you won't drag others down with you when you can't keep up."

With that, Kakashi leaned on the side of a tree while Naruto shrugged and created a Shadow Clone to make more Shadow Clones to train some more. Every bit of training counted in making sure he was stronger.

* * *

The next day Tazuna needed someone to guard him.

And since Sasuke still needed to finish mastering Tree-Climbing and Naruto needed to work on his Shadow Clone Combat as he was a key figure in the upcoming battle, the honour fall onto Sakura much the Tazuna's displeasure.

"Do I really want girly here to protect me?" Tazuna asked ignoring the pissed off look Sakura had for not having the time to pretty herself up with make-up, "The blonde brat can make those clone things. Why can't a bunch of them come with me instead?"

"Naruto's Shadow Clones can only take a single hit. If they don't brace themselves meaning if they are ambushed then they will pop with any minor hit and disappear. And with that your protection" Kakashi explained, "Though I can send a few with you if you wish but Sakura needs to be there because Sasuke is still training. Plus if a Clone popped then Naruto gets the memories and we'll know if you're in danger."

Tazuna sighed in relief at least. While he didn't have perfect protection with the girl, he still had some protection even if those blonde clone things weren't actually real or could take a hit.

Moving along, Sasuke started back on his day training with trying to master the Tree-Climbing exercise with a Shadow Clone keeping an eye on him and telling him some advice as Sakura pretty much would never have a chakra control issue in her life.

"So what tips do you have for me dobe?" Sasuke asked.

Although his words were the same, his tone was much different compared to what it used to and Naruto took it in strides. Better to have the guy as an ally he could trust with his back then one who may backstab you.

"Other than what you know?" The Shadow Clone shrugged, "You pretty much have the idea and theory down. It's just that your body needs to learn to instinctively do it on its own."

"But is there a faster way of learning this?" Sasuke asked again but this time more assertively. He needed and wanted to get stronger faster and wasn't the type of person to exploit people if he knew then well enough.

The Shadow Clone pondered for a bit. His original managed to practise with enough Shadow Clones to get the exercise down pretty well in a single day but spent a good amount of time mastering it. Sasuke here didn't need to master it to that extent but rather have a good concept of it.

There were frankly several ways of getting down the Tree-Climbing exercise. The one that Kakashi told them about was to allow them to instinctively get the exercise down which was the most important thing in the future.

You didn't want to need to think to stick to a wall else you may be paste a second later.

The second method was much slower but allowed the person to know the amount of Chakra they needed to stick to something. Mainly it was taking things one step at a time…literally. You would take a step vertically and bit by bit walk up with control. Though you may want a good bit of upper and lower body strength to not fall down with the pressure on the front of your body.

This method may work with Sasuke but this was more about building up reserves than anything else; though Sasuke may want to know about it later.

The last method Naruto knew of was a combination of both where you would run up as much as you could and then walk down. The former would build up the body's instincts to mold Chakra in a certain way and the latter would build up the conscious control needed as well.

This would give a person the most benefit until they had enough control.

"Well Teme" the Shadow Clone started to explain the concept of all three exercises and why they were important, "Kakashi's method is viable in that you would probably won't need to think to control your Chakra but the second method I told you about will make it somewhat easier to get the control when you need it."

Sasuke nodded and added, "But the third method would allow me both and it would allow me to quicken my training as well. This would allow me to get to the more advanced stuff I want to learn to take that person down."

The Shadow Clone laughed at that. If there was anything he knew in his 2 Years in the Time Loops is that there are no shortcuts-ever. Doing so would only bring you down later on. Power, Speed and Stamina are the basics which all Shinobi have and yet there are many, so many legends so took this basics and _dominated_.

"Teme think of that person you want to kill. Tell me, was it those supposed advanced techniques you want to learn that allowed him to take down your Clan?" the Shadow Clone inquired even though he knew that Sasuke would get angry due to this, "I remember that day quite clearly than most. The reports says that _no one_ knew about it until it was too late."

"So?" Sasuke gritted his teeth. He hated talking about that day for a reason.

Well unfortunately for him, Naruto knew a bit about Uchiha Itachi.

"Think about it this way, can you honestly see those advanced techniques helping you that much compared to making yourself stronger, faster and last longer in a fight? If there's one thing the Ninja knows about Uchiha Itachi, is that he managed to nearly wipe out a Clan based around being powerful, fast and with countless Jutsus under their belt and with one of two known Dojutsus that made them legendary using nothing but the basics."

With that, the Shadow Clone gave Sasuke some advice, "If anything Teme; even if you know every single Jutsu and Technique in the world; Itachi can still kill you easily if you keep thinking that getting advance techniques of any kind will make you stronger in the long run."

The Shadow Clone popped just then to give the memories to the original.

* * *

Elsewhere with the real Naruto and Kakashi, the former stopped for a second to comprehend about the memories that were just given to him.

"Interesting…" Naruto pondered while making another Shadow Clone to keep watch over Sasuke's training.

Though this time discreet since said Teme wouldn't exactly be focusing on training but rather on him since he talked about _Itachi_ of all people. What the hell was his Shadow Clone thinking?!

"Hmm? What is it Naruto?" Kakashi asked, "Something wrong with Sasuke?"

Shaking his head, Naruto replied, "Oh my Shadow Clone had the _great_ idea to bring up Uchiha Itachi in front of Sasuke and dispelled before getting his reaction."

Kakashi looked alerted at this quite quickly and demanded, " _What_ were you two talking about that led up to that?!" he knew that that topic was a VERY sore spot for the _Last_ Uchiha at the very least being killing said traitor being one of his life's goals now.

"Sasuke wanted to know a _faster_ way of getting the Tree-Climbing technique down. I gave him some suggestions but then he had to go on about learning more _advanced_ techniques" Naruto shrugged before seeing Kakashi's glare and adding, "So I used Itachi as an example of what the basics can do for a person who mastered them beyond what others did."

"…."

In his head, Kakashi piled on the benefits and outright troublesome situations that may happen now that Naruto frankly provoked Sasuke using his brother.

Well it wasn't his issue right now and he needed at least one person on his team and hopefully two with Sasuke in working order to face against unknown enemies with unknown strengths in their first supposed C-rank.

God that sounded horribly even in his head!

"Anyway Kakashi-sensei, let's start my training before we think about what's going on in the emo's head for a bit at least" Naruto whined seeing his Sensei stalling; deciding whether to see if the Teme was all right. Naruto knew Kakashi was partly responsible for Sasuke since he was the _Last Uchiha_ though ironically he was also stuck with the _Last Uzumaki_ as well on the same time.

Huh, that just made Sakura more of a minor person now than ever.

But back to talking, "If you're worried about Sasuke, I already sent a Shadow Clone to him and since it hadn't popped…." Naruto said slowly to make sure his Sensei knew that the Teme was fine in all…as far as he knew.

"Right right" Kakashi decided to wave his worries off for a while at least, "Anyway have you come up with ideas of what you're missing with your Shadow Clone combat?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah…I was going with only pushing enemies somewhere that I didn't think of luring them to the same place by letting my clones get destroyed. Then there's suicide set-ups in making a blind-spot and stuff with the smoke and bodies…other than the general swarm tactic that I usually use."

Kakashi nodded thanking that Naruto knew what he was talking about to a certain extent but Kakashi knew that Naruto barely scratched the surface of true Shadow Clone Combat.

It was an art that the Saindaime Hokage Mastered even if he only used at most 2 Shadow Clones at most and only used it when he still had enough Chakra Reserves to pull it off to _massacre_ the enemy more than he usually did anyway.

"Good but I'm going to talk about the Shadow Clone Combat that the Saindaime Hokage developed and how it compares with yours" Kakashi stated as his student agreed, "First off, you typically shouldn't make more than 3 Shadow Clones against a single enemy at a time" said teacher held up a finger as Naruto reacted….badly.

"Whaaaaaaaa? I don't get it, I can make SO many Shadow Clones" Naruto complained seeing that this supposed _better_ version reduced the number of Clones he could use.

"Now now, let's me explain at least" Kakashi chided as Naruto pouted, "There are two reasons for this and the first doesn't really apply to you which is to conserve Chakra. The second reason is that with more than 3 Shadow Clones against a single enemy, your attacks in close range would interfere with each other. Typically it's fine to use at least 5 Shadow Clones with a long range attack. Of course the other exception is that you're facing an enemy that can quickly dispatch your Shadow Clones in which case you typically need a lot more."

Naruto thought trying not to show it agreed with that. With Gai and Lee, both were Taijutsu monsters to which they easily can take down a dozen Shadow Clones with ease in mere moments. But with the standard enemy around Sasuke's level; he really didn't need more than 3 Shadow Clones at once else it would be overkill.

Hell Kakashi was right in that using more than 3 Shadow Clones at once interfered with each other's' attack in the end unless he was swarming them again.

"Okay Kakashi-sensei…I agree with using 3 Shadow Clones at close range max due to interference…but is there another reason for that number? I mean I can use the swarm tactic pretty well" Naruto asked, "I mean even if you can waste more Chakra and make say 5 or 10 Shadow Clones for one guy or even a hundred for someone way above my skill, it shouldn't matter that much right?"

Kakashi sighed seeing that Naruto somehow didn't connect the dots quite as quickly as he hoped. Therefore he had to explain, "Naruto, three Shadow Clones along with yourself is already 4 people. What else in Konoha carries that formation?"

Perking up; said Blonde answered, "A team? So I'm basically going to mimic a 4 manned team with this?"

"Yes, though a team of three is the smallest number of people in a group that can have all the vital roles in a team. A close range expert based around Taijutsu, mid-long range expert based around Ninjutsu and a support usually a medic or Genjutsu user" Kakashi answered, "But I believe you can take this style even further. I mean who says that you can't use 3 teams of 3 against a single enemy or more attacking on all sides or use Shadow Clones to set the battlefield up to allow your main attacking Shadow Clones an advantage? Plus the swarm tactic is really unrefined and leaves lots of blind spots in the formation."

During these words, Naruto's mind was spinning wildly at the possibilities this could make. Before he set in the idea that he should use the Shadow Clone Jutsu at mass; sure he split them up against Zabuza but that was against a highly skilled enemy and he had to.

But to do the same in a smaller scale against weaker foes to make things easier for him? He chuckled at the possibilities.

Even with just Taijutsu, he could make Teams of Shadow Clones that could intentionally charge in to take a hit using Tai Chi to defend themselves while other Teams of Shadow Clones could do their thing and take them down.

Those Trapping skills of his would get a good workout…he would be godlike if he could use Genjutsu as well…but he had to settle into using Ninjutsu until his Chakra Control was good enough else he found a way to increase his control for a while when he needed at least.

Plus he was getting good at summoning Shadow Clones quickly now and may sooner or later be able to summon one during an attack from either side to add onto his attack or block one from the enemy. He could see it now; him attacking with a straight combo and BAM! One Shadow Clone kicking the guy up in the air and then two more appearing alongside with him as they juggle the enemy in the air and into the ground.

And there were these 'Teams' Kakashi was talking about. With his Transformation Jutsu which altered his real body as well as his Shadow Clones; he could literally make these 'Small Teams' into armies and no one would be the wiser.

But still there was Ninjutsu and he wanted to learn some at least at last!

He looked up and saw Kakashi with a strange smile as if he knew what the Blonde was thinking of as he asked, "So Naruto, how would you like to learn two particular Jutsus I know that will make you _fear_ when used with your Shadow Clones?"

Naruto could only grin as Kakashi explained them to him, "The first is called Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu which allows you to go freely underground like a fish in water. Basically it allow for you or your clones to go undetected by the enemy else if they can sense you through the ground or otherwise. I trust you know what this means with your Shadow Clones."

Naruto frantically nodded as Kakashi explained the second Jutsu.

"The second Jutsu I want to teach you is called Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu and it drags the enemy into the ground to their necks allowing for a quick and easy decapitation if you wish later" Kakashi explained, "This Jutsu needs to be combo with the Underground Projection Fish Jutsu in order to work but you will be able to mass pull down armies into the ground."

Naruto pondered for a bit and then suddenly asked, "Hey Kakashi-sensei. Can I use these Jutsus on the bridge?"

"Unfortunately no. The bridge is made of mostly cement and metal and the Underground Projection Fish Jutsu can only go through Earth…though I suppose you _could_ test it out later. I've heard of some Iwa-nin able to go through Metal using the Jutsu."

Naruto grinned as he now had a pretty good goal in making sure this mission ends up being a breeze. Even if he couldn't get his Clones to hide in the middle of the bridge (literally); he could still Transform a large number of them.

* * *

 **A/N:**

Rehashed content from earlier chapter but I still managed to squish in some other info about Konoha's forces.

The idea that Konoha may intentionally lower the number of Jonins they had on force to deceive enemies was from **Déjà vu no Jutsu** by Vixen Tail.

It actually made sense in a way that you really don't want to broadcast on whether you had your strongest force gathered in the village or not. Having a good deal of other Shinobis the same strength but lower rank to protect the village and rest of the Nation would be a good idea.

Not to mention it also made sure that any enemies outside the village and Nation, namely the other Shinobi Villages from truly knowing what the village is actually capable of.

And its a bloody good surprise for enemies when they expect a Chunin to kill but get a Jonin in skill kicking their asses in battle.

As for the numbers of the Shinobi forces, I mostly made that up but 12 000 Ninjas isn't that unreasonable.

The Alliance Shinobi Forces in the 4th Shinobi War consisted of a total of 80 000 Shinobi. Divide that by 5 per major village you have 16 000 Ninjas per village. Here I have Konoha having 12 000 active and 5000 inactive.

With the time skip, even more numbers would be added to this.

So yeah, 12 000 in numbers isn't that bad.

According to Naruto Wiki on each village, Suna is the lowest (2/5 Pop, 2/5 Military, 2/5 Eco) while Mizu is barely better (2/5 Pop, 3/5 Military, 2/5 Eco), next up is Kumo (3/5 Pop, 4/5 Military, 5/5 Eco), Iwa (4/5 Pop, 4/5 Military, 2/5 Eco) and finally Konoha (5/5 Pop, 3/5 Military, 2/5 Eco).

According to this Konoha had an _average_ number of Ninjas in their village. Therefore it made sense that Iwa and Kumo had more Ninjas than them and _even more Genin_ which was probably why some Fics had the quality of Iwa pretty bad.

But now onto something else I wanted to talk about.

Using Shadow Clones in combat else Shadow Clone Combat as the title of this chapter.

This...is actually quite interesting and has been done in a couple different ways. However most of them consisted of two things.

Swarming the enemies with numbers at random else trying to make sense of those numbers in battle. Then there are Fics that made use of Naruto's Transformation Jutsu as well.

There are literally a near infinite number of ways to use Shadow Clones in actual fights actively.

The example the Third Hokage was once of them where he created an extra two Shadow Clones to aid him and create a full squad to slaughter enemies at mass. That is a the reason why Kakashi is teaching Naruto that method despite it contradicting what he already knows.

Obviously Naruto won't be using that method.

However he would be using parts of it, like parts of different Taijutsu styles he was taught and parts of different tactics as well to create something unique to him.

Yeah, its more complicated than you think.

I spent some time building up what is to be Naruto's way of fighting which thanks to Gai can go from swarming with raw numbers, pressuring an opponent or even using traps against them.

But Naruto had no other Jutsu can the basics and he rarely used the Transformation Jutsu with Shadow Clones. Reasons? Other than the fact that I kinda forgot, that amount of information is simply too much to take in at once.

But then again, having sets of certain Transformed Shadow Clones for certain acts would be useful for Naruto to have in the future. Unfortunately, Naruto is still near the beginning of creating an entire fighting style for himself.

Even with Gai's help, he was only able to create a base foundation.


	23. Chapter 22 - Battle Chakra Control Exerc

**Chapter 22: Battle Chakra Control Exercises**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

It had been only two days since the day Kakashi took him aside and told him of the beauty of Shadow Clone Combat.

Naruto was in fact loving the fact that his Jutsu was so…great at practically everything he wanted.

Kakashi was…recovering eventually and was now able to stand without the crutch but it would be another few days until he would be able to fight completely; the same day that Zabuza was probably going to attack them.

However it wasn't like Naruto didn't do nothing during this time; in fact he was practising the two Earth Style Jutsus in the meantime and with Shadow Clones he had it down; mostly.

Unlike the Academy Basic Jutsu; the two Earth Style Jutsus were both of a higher rank with the Underground Projection Fish Jutsu being a C-rank Jutsu while the Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu is a D-rank Jutsu.

And with rank comes a higher level of control needed to use it and with it; unfortunately a higher number of hand-seals to remember.

Even while completely focusing on that area of using the two Jutsus in question with _hundreds_ of Shadow Clones trying to familiarise with the Jutsu and cut down the number of hand-seals they require; Naruto managed to get them both to a respectable 5 hand-seals each.

Not the worse since he could do that in a good second flat but not the best since Shinobi are known to blaze through hand-seals in a split second before attacking. Though that only accounted for those at least Jonin level and maybe High Chunin as well.

Genin level Shinobi while quick in executing hand-seals weren't _fast_ at it.

Plus it didn't help that the resistance seal he had on him which was at 1.75x in strength meaning he was practically slower than he should be in _everything_ which was a pain.

With a sigh, Naruto looked back at his current opponent which a certain Copy-Ninja was wanting to make sure that he was in shape again for the fight against Zabuza.

"Is that all you got Naruto?" Kakashi taunted, "I would've thought all those _thousands_ of hours practising those Jutsus with your Shadow Clones that you had it down by now!"

And it once again didn't help that said Sensei wanted to see how well he was doing in his Shadow Clone Combat. Naruto growled as he saw the last of his Shadow Clones being destroyed again by said Sensei who seemed bloody _casually_ taking him down bit by bit without effort!

"Damnit!" Naruto shouted making the cross hand-seal and shouting out, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Three distinct groups of Shadow Clones in threes totalling up to nine appeared in front of the original Naruto with a good deal of smoke as they charged at their teacher. The middle one went straight, the ones to the left and right leaped to either side and into the air via trees.

What Naruto didn't show was there was another Shadow Clone whom used the Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu to borrow underground and split up to surround said Jonin and teacher in a few seconds in case the first plan didn't work.

Naruto watched as his first team was met with immediately annihilation with three easy jabs at the Shadow Clones popping them immediately. The two teams to the left and right react then halfway to their point and threw their Kunai and Shurikens at the man.

"Gotta!"

And at the same moment a pair of hands grabbed onto the ankles of the Jonin as the weapons plunged into him; but in the next moment smoke burst out of the body and turned into a log where Naruto realised one of his other teams were destroyed with screams as Kakashi handled them all with a Kunai before chucking three Shurikens at them and without them reacting in time, popping them before dropping down with the same Kunai and killing the Shadow Clone in the ground with little effort at all.

"Like I said, is that all you got Naruto?" Kakashi asked his student again as he saw the fatigue in the boy making that many Shadow Clones over and over again.

They went around with over a dozen rounds already and all of them with Naruto using Shadow Clones and his newly taught Earth Jutsus.

Most Jonin can only fight at full power at most for 2-3 times max and that's when they're limiting themselves from using Chakra Draining Jutsus. Naruto on the other hand was using several Chakra Draining Jutsus in a row and only now was tiring out.

Frankly Naruto was going to be a monster on the battlefield in the future.

To be honest, Kakashi believed it would at most take Naruto another 2 years for him to be on the same level as him and another year after that to surpass him. At most at the age of 16, Naruto was going to be stronger than him; an elite Jonin stepping into the realm of Kages and S-rank NInjas.

Looking at the progress of his students; aside from Sakura whom shouldn't have even gotten her headband in his opinion; both of them were training at a fast pace and not slower than him when he was first a Genin though at a much younger age.

Naruto was a brawler and with decent Taijutsu. But he had Shadow Clones and had enough Chakra to make him a Ninjutsu juggernaut on the level of legends.

Furthermore he was also studying Fuinjutsu and was at a good level; still below him but soon he would be surpassed in that area and it helped that Naruto was unusually good at traps.

Yes, Shadow Clones, Ninjutsu and Fuinjutsu Traps alone would make Naruto a monster to face.

Sasuke on the other hand was a precise fighter like the rest of his clan.

His Taijutsu was naturally good and would improve with time and lots of training. His Ninjutsu wasn't too bad with his Fire Affinity though he would like for him to develop a second one; either Lightning or Earth and his Genjutsu would go above most when his Sharingan would awaken. Unlike Naruto who was a pure juggernaut.

Sasuke was an all-rounder like most Uchihas but seemed to lean more on Taijutsu and Ninjutsu unlike Itachi who specialised more in Genjutsu.

Still; both students if given the chance could be the next Sannin…the next White Fang like his father or Sensei where they would be both respected and feared.

And his job was to make sure they were prepared and trained enough to handle the world.

With a strict look getting back in gear he barked out the order to Naruto, "Another round! This time we'll see if you can last more than 10 seconds!"

Kakashi smiled seeing the determination in Naruto's eyes.

* * *

Hours later from near Chakra Exhaustion; his reserves were already two thirds full from rest and food which he had brought in spares within his Scrolls sealed within.

Naturally he had a good deal of instant Ramen since that filled him up quickly and was high on energy in general; he also had lots of fruits which were a much healthier alternative.

Of course his Chakra refilling so quickly was mostly thanks to his extreme metabolism from what he could tell was because he was the Kyubi's Jinchuriki.

Something he was using as an excuse that having the beast sealed in him had some benefits in order to not get depressed.

"You ready Dobe?" Sasuke asked looking impatient. It had been more than a few hours since Naruto needed to rest to recover his Chakra. With a wry smile Naruto replied, "Around two thirds full…which should be enough for a few hours of sparring."

The Teme looked shocked and then sputtered out, "How much damn Chakra do you have?! I know I have one of the highest Chakra levels in my age but I can only last at most half an hour of sparring!"

With a shrug Naruto answered while flecking out his muscles a bit, "Around Elite Jonin levels…so about the same or higher than Kakashi-sensei. He actually doesn't have a lot of Chakra compared to his rank you know."

"Hn" Sasuke simply nodded and got into his stance.

Seeing this, Naruto grinned since it has been a while since he had sparred against Sasuke where he didn't know completely of his ins and outs. With a flick up his hand, Naruto shot up a Kunai up into the air and both sides waited until the Kunai turned around and hit the ground for their spar to start.

"Shadow Cl-"

In the moment the signal for the spar started, Sasuke immediately threw a dozen shurikens at him stopping him from immediately using his Jutsu. Naruto dodged to the left where Sasuke charged up against him with a good deal of speed.

'Hmm…he's using Chakra Enhancement to speed himself up. Typical' Naruto mused as he too gathered Chakra in his body to his limbs and to a lesser extent the rest of his body as a shield for any attacks that breaks through his guard.

With a fist at hand, both boys went in to punch each other; but Sasuke still had a faster body pure and simple and he managed to barely dodge his punch as his landed on Naruto's face, blowing him away and flipping him in the air before charging at him.

"ACK!"

Naruto let out a small scream of pain as he took the time in the air to make a cross hand-seal and muttered out while pouring a reasonable amount of Chakra, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Immediately, Sasuke was met with a trio of fists to which he managed to block in time with both hands and a knee.

However the chance to continue his attack ended with Naruto landing on the ground feet first just as he flared his Chakra to quickly kill off the three Shadow Clones that stopped him.

But at the same time Naruto called upon another 9 Shadow Clones to aid him as they ran straight at him in formation.

The Uchiha noticed as one third in each group held back a bit before drawing out a weapon while another third charged straight in without any regard and the final third backed the latter up.

"HN!"

But Sasuke wasn't called a prodigy for nothing. Even without the Sharingan, Sasuke was able to keep track of each of these Shadow Clones with clear view with his naturally superior vision and as thus he knew what he needed to do to get rid of them at once.

He dodged one blow after another and eventually took the time to make sure they were all lined up together as he blazed through the hand-seals and shouted, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

With a single breath and a coiled finger to control the width of the attack; Sasuke literally burnt down the Shadow Clones and shot the rather large Fireball even for most Chunin (In his opinion) at the real Naruto.

Poof!

Only for him to disappear as a Shadow Clone.

The Uchiha as much as he later denied it panicked. How did the Dobe do it? He was watching him from the beginning! Even with a Transformation it was a cheap illusion any decent Ninja could tell! (Unfortunately said Uchiha and the rest of the world didn't know Naruto's Transformation was a TRUE Physical Transformation)

'Where are you…? He's not in front, behind or above me…below!'

That series of thoughts that was aided by the rather humiliating lost against Kakashi during their Bell Test sprung into place as a pair of hands leaped from the ground under him as he leaped into the air, only for him to be met with a barrage of Kunai and Shurikens thrown directly to the side of him.

With a click of his tongue Sasuke once again demonstrated how skilled he was in dodging and deflecting _every single one_ of those weapons while in mid-flight before dropping to the ground.

His Training with the Green Freaks REALLY helped him in his skills whether on ground or the occasional fight in mid-air more than he ever wanted to admit.

But at the same time as landing, Sasuke noticed that something was wrong. Naruto wasn't this quiet…ever unless…

"You just completely trapped the place everywhere around me didn't you?" Sasuke sighed remembering said Dobe was rather good at stealth, trapping and now Fuinjutsu which was a deadly combination.

A few chuckles was heard all around him indicating that he was already surrounded by Shadow Clones. And it didn't help that each Shadow Clone could trigger a trap at any location which made it highly difficult (But not impossible) to sense each one.

In all, Sasuke could either surrender which would damage his pride by a bit or…draw out the battle where he would be outmatched in numbers and outwitted by the Dobe and face further humiliation by said Blonde.

Yep, Uchiha Pride or not, there were certain things he rather not experience and that unfortunately included the 'Helpful' Taijutsu users Naruto introduced him to near the beginning of the year.

With another sigh and an arm raised Sasuke announced, "I surrender. I rather not face ALL of your traps the day before Zabuza supposedly will appear again."

With a chuckle Naruto appeared along with their Sensei surprisingly before Sasuke felt the need to want to hit them both with the looks they were giving him.

"Well then, another round?" Kakashi asked with an eye-smile.

* * *

It was at the fifth day of recovery that Kakashi took aside both Naruto and Sasuke for their training.

He had mostly recovered but still needed the rest of the week off in order to fully get back in the game from Chakra Exhaustion from the battle with Zabuza.

Sakura since she _still_ didn't want the training went with Tazuna on the bridge to 'protect' him.

Frankly it was all but certain that Kakashi was going to put the girl through the grinder in training else kick her out of the program entirely.

But on the other hand he was more than impressed with the progress both Naruto and Sasuke had.

The former was getting more than along with his own version of Shadow Clone Combat and Kakashi knew for a fact with each new Ninjutsu or idea he gets, it'll make him more and more dangerous.

The later however recently mastered the Tree-Climbing Exercise to the point where it would take too long to improve on it in time for the battle.

Initially the Copy-Nin wanted to teach the duo about Chakra Enhancement but remembered that Naruto went over it and they both used the technique though quite roughly in their spars. He was now going to help them refine it since they both now had the required control for it.

"What I'm going to teach you will be dangerous and should only be used against enemies" Kakashi warned, "If I dare find you using this against someone who is not prepared for it; I will make your life a living hell."

Both boys gulped and quickly nodded. Kakashi smiled seeing that he could still make his students fear him as though they were new Genin rather than ones whom were a month new in comparison.

"What I'm going to teach you are three times that will more or less ensure you'll be on Chunin level in a physical sense when you master even one of them…master all three of them and you may match a Jonin for a short while. However with just a few days you'll be at best at the pinnaces of what a Genin would be" Kakashi explained as Naruto asked eagerly, "What kind of Jutsu are we talking about?"

Kakashi chuckled and rhetorically asked, "Who says its Jutsu's I'm teaching you? No" he said shaking his head, "What I'm going to teach you are three types of Chakra Control designed for battle."

Sasuke looked confused while Naruto looked on even more eagerly hearing the words 'Chakra Control'.

Kakashi knew that these exercises were more beneficial to Naruto who needed the reserves but he also knew that Sasuke would be on a higher level using these techniques than Naruto for a good while.

"Now these three techniques are called Chakra Compression, Chakra Cycling and Chakra Folding" he explained, "Chakra Compression is naturally when you compress the Chakra in say, your fist but when you strike something, you release it at that exact moment to unleash a strike several times stronger than normal."

Kakashi gathered some Chakra; not a lot and hit the tree behind him causing it to leave a rather moderate dent in it before saying, "I didn't even hit it that hard and used only a small amount of Chakra to do so. You can see the effects of using this in combat."

It was then that Naruto asked, "Sensei! If it's that useful then why don't all Ninjas use it? I mean neither you nor Zabuza used it when you fought."

"Ahh…" Kakashi figured Naruto would ask him that and explained further, "The reason is actually simple. It takes too much time to gather and compress the Chakra to strike and any decent Jonin will be able to sense that you are gathering and compressing your Chakra to enhance your attack. Another risk is that too much Chakra gathered at once and being compressed when you can't handle it may explode your limb."

Kakashi watched satisfied as the two boys looked horrified at the thought of their body parts exploding with even training.

"Plus you can only hold onto the Chakra compressed like that for so long before it's used up though there is one Ninja known to be a master of this technique that she became legendary" Kakashi shrugged at the end.

"Who?" Sasuke was curious at least on the person who managed to convert what seemed to be a rather sledgehammer technique into one that could face other Shinobi.

"Tsunade of the Sannin. She has perfect Chakra Control and with it is the only known Front Line Combat Medic….ever. Due to that and a Seal she has on her forehead that collects Chakra, she is able to instantaneously gather and compress her Chakra to its smallest amount and let it explode out at the same moment she hits something. She has perfected this to the point where she has the strength of a hundred in this moment giving the seal she uses for this the name 'Strength of a Hundred'. Plus there are other effects that Seal has that I do not know but her teacher the Saindaime Hokage and team-mates; the Toad and Snake Sannin know of."

Kakashi watched as his students stared at him in amazement of the sheer information he gave them.

Naruto looked gleeful since Kakashi knew that the boy would want to try to at least create a bastardised version of the seal later while Sasuke was probably thinking the same but more along the lines of wanting that power.

With a sigh, Kakashi had to pop that bubble.

"While Tsunade mastered the use of this particular technique; neither of you will ever to that extent at least" he said and for a brief moment enjoyed the looks of devastations the two had but that was quickly squashed with some guilt, "To do so requires perfect Chakra Control which neither of you and myself have. Even I can at best multiple my strike's power at best 5 times using Chakra Compression. I doubt you will go over 3 times your power unless you highly overcharge it or get better Chakra Control."

Frowning his Raven haired student asked, "Then why teach us this if we can't use it to its fullest potential?"

Kakashi eye-smiled and stated, "Simple. Even at that amount, attacking three times your current strength is a lot of power and places you above Genin level at least."

"…."

His two students looked at each other for a moment before Naruto spoke up, "Teme. No matter the negatives against using it; having it is still useful in case you need a last ditch hit. Face it; who _hasn't_ dreamed of punching a boulder and easily shattering it?"

"Hn" Sasuke simply scoffed and looked at him to explain the next thing on his list.

Obliging Kakashi continued wanting to spend less time explaining and more time letting them teach themselves the limits of their current abilities in using these techniques.

"The next thing is Chakra Cycling and it is something that ALL Jonin and above use consciously or not. Any experienced Chunin would learn how to do so as well and normally I wouldn't dare teach you any of these techniques but these are dire times and I want EVERY method that I know to keep you alive to do so" Kakashi explained with a warning again. Don't slack off and prepare for everything.

"Now the concept of this is fairly simple but complicated to execute like Chakra Compression. The idea is that within your Chakra system, there is a flow like how blood is pumped through your body. The concept of Chakra Cycling is that you accelerate this process actively in order to overall increase the strength and speed of your body as well as to increase your recovery speed in stamina" he explained though still warned, "I recommend not learning this immediately unless you have a method like Shadow Clones to help you experience how much your body can endure. If you don't…you could and can cause irreversible damage to your Chakra System as a result."

The duo cringed at the warning again.

"Any questions?"

Naruto raised his hand and then asked, "Yeah, so you implied I could use Shadow Clones to help me train on this…"

Kakashi nodded and answered, "Yes, with the memory transfer aspect of Shadow Clones; it would greatly benefit you especially since you easily have as much Chakra as me and not enough control to initially risk yourself on using this technique."

"Is there any advice for me who can't use Shadow Clones to help me?" Sasuke asked to which Kakashi once again answered, "Start _very_ small and _very_ slow as well to make sure your body is completely used to it before moving it up bit by bit _slowly_. Taking your time with this is the key here I better not see you attempt even this. A week is not enough to get it down to an acceptable level in battle without risks."

Taking a breath in, Kakashi continued to the next technique, "The last of the exercises, Chakra Folding is the most difficult but at the same time is the most powerful and it is something that the Saindaime Hokage refined to its limits."

This came to a surprise for Naruto who blurted out, "Jiji? He actually created something that awesome?"

Sasuke snorted and said, "The Hokage is known as 'The Professor' after 'God of Shinobi'. He had the respect of even my clan for not only his combat prowess and leadership to be the ONLY Kage to take back the hat after retirement but also by inventing a stupidly large number of techniques big and small."

"Thank you Sasuke" Kakashi eye-smiled, "Now back to Chakra Folding. The concept is that you fold the Chakra in you which is similar to Chakra Compressing but by folding it instead of compressing it, you can hold the power in for much longer."

Naruto and Sasuke nodded to this, already it seemed useful.

"Now do either of you know how we measure a person's Chakra Capabilities?" Kakashi asked resulting in shaking of the heads.

"In that case, there are three ways of measuring chakra capabilities. They are Chakra Supply which is how much Chakra you have, Chakra Capacity which measures how much Chakra you can use at a time. It doesn't matter if you have limitless Chakra Supply when you can't use it. The last is called Chakra Density and determines the size and intensity of a Jutsu. The higher the rank of a Jutsu, the more Chakra Density you tend to need to use it. Chakra Folding is a way to make sure you can rapidly increase your Chakra Density."

That was new, Naruto was under the impression that Chakra Supply and Capacity were the same.

"However doing so requires a LOT more control but the other benefit outsets that. By folding your Chakra you are also able to amplify the power of your Jutsu by a higher margin than just pumping more Chakra into it. For example, take Sasuke's Grand Fireball he used at me during the bell test. By doubling the amount of Chakra he pumped into it, it wouldn't be twice as powerful since you are effectively overpowering it."

"Hn" Sasuke nodded, "It's harder to control the size as well and having a smaller but hotter Fireball was a mark of skill in my clan. Using more Chakra in a Jutsu tends to just make it bigger if you don't control it."

"Correct, but by using Chakra Folding with using the Grand Fireball Jutsu, you'll almost effortlessly be able to use the Jutsu at the same size but at least twice the power. Chakra Folding is basically a way to pressurise your Chakra and amplifying the effects of your actions" Kakashi said, "An example is this."

Then at the same moment Kakashi said that, both Naruto and Sasuke felt pressure. But it wasn't normal pressure that you could normally ignore even as Chakra was used to increase the effects of it. This pressure _demanded_ you to kneel down before it. It was choking you and telling you that you are inferior.

And when both boys were about to submit, something that neither could easily do due to will and pride; the pressure disappeared.

"What was _that_?" Sasuke asked with a sightly frightened tone. He remembered something similar that night…did Itachi use this against him?

Naruto on the other hand was less surprised but wasn't that prepared for it to be used on him. The only person who had such a pressure in his presence before was Hokage-jiji and that was when he was usually saving him from being attacked, tortured and killed by mobs.

Well the civilians and more importantly the Shinobi learnt easily why not to pissed off a near 70 year old Shinobi.

With age comes danger that speaks of cunning and power even if said person was usually a kind grandfather.

"That was Chakra Folding used to amplify the pressure around me. I believe Naruto did something similar against Sakura during the beginning of the first week but that was due to him using a LOT more Chakra than me currently" Kakashi explained with Naruto grunting. It wasn't his fault that that happened, when he was angry it was harder for him to control his already hard to control Chakra!

"Okay" Naruto nodded after a few moments of silence, "It's good that you want us to learn this but isn't there like 2 more days at most before the fight with Zabuza and the masked kid?"

"The dobe is right" Sasuke agreed, "2 days isn't enough to even roughly master any of these techniques. Is there any other reason you want to teach us this?"

Any other teacher would find Sasuke's comment rude or in the case of being an Uchiha ass kisser; highly complementary but Kakashi was neither as he said, "2 days of intense training on the first one is enough for me to teach you the raw basics of at least Chakra Compression and hopefully Chakra Cycling for it to increase the chance that you will survive the upcoming battle."

"…."

Both boys were silent on the seriousness of the situation. They had no doubt that Kakashi would never teach them these techniques so early if not for the fact that their lives were literally on the line right now.

But Naruto wasn't that fazed. With the Time Loops he literally had an infinite amount of times to get it right and he was willing to learn and probably master one of the three techniques if they had to cycle through the loops when something goes wrong.

No, he had no doubt that something was going to screw up. The reason was simply with Zabuza an Elite Jonin and an unknown variable as enemies, there was too much that could go wrong.

But this gave him time; a week before each loop could probably reset to train each of these aspects and he could just say that he learn it reading through a book or by listening in to someone talking about it or even making it up and didn't know what he was doing since it seemed to make him stronger.

Out of the three, Naruto decided that either Chakra Compression or Chakra Cycling was going to benefit him the most initially…but the aspect of Chakra Folding was powerful to him. But at the same time he really didn't have any Jutsus that benefited him learning it first.

Therefore learning Chakra Compression and Chakra Cycling first seemed best.

The former combined with Chakra Enhancement would make him powerful in close quarter Taijutsu and would allow another couple of moves he could combine into his Shadow Clone Combat style. The later was essentially a smoother version of Chakra Enhancement to the body.

The benefits of Chakra Enhancement was specific points of focus in enhancing senses.

The benefits of Chakra Compression was a focus of power in strikes.

The benefits of Chakra Cycling was an overall boost in all aspects of the body san senses.

And the benefits of Chakra Folding was the amplification of everything he did especially with Ninjustu.

Yes, Naruto was going to especially enjoy this training even more so since these exercises were basically Chakra Control exercise in their core.

With it, he could possibly finally hit up to Chunin level Chakra Control!

* * *

 **A/N:**

This chapter is interesting to write since it puts in several new concepts that weren't at all there in Canon.

Chakra Supply, Capacity and Density will be the new way I'm going to measure someone's Chakra System. This idea was taken from **A World Full of Monsters  
** by **Fahad09** in which the author describes how Chakra worked.

Naturally I was highly interested in this and how it compared and explained what happened in Canon since its essentially an AU world in which he created.

And what I got was simply awesome to my eyes.

In particular Chakra Density.

While one can easily explain Chakra Supply and Capacity as the source and hose that represents how much a Ninja can use Chakra at a time and at how long, Chakra Density is different from all of that.

Basically there was literally nothing in Canon that said that none of the other characters could use that one Jutsu that is based around Chakra Density, the Rasangan.

Kakashi could use it but never in battle.

But it was never explained more than Kakashi saying that it was too unwieldy.

Of course you have the Chidori which unlike the Rasangan was more of a stab rather than pushing a ball of destruction around with you, but there was really nothing more that said Kakashi didn't use Rasangan once or twice when he needed to.

Until Fahad09 brought up Chakra Density. I don't even know he was the first to give this explanation and can't be bothered to track down the source but Chakra Density and the fact that the Rasangen is basically a rather large lump of spinning and dense Chakra.

That brought up a whole lot of questions on why everyone didn't just use this amazing Jutsu when they had the control to use it like the Third and even Danzo who had decades of training to back them up and the Chakra to use said Jutsu but never did while someone like Naruto could at the age of 13.

The answer is all in the density of one's Chakra.

Chakra itself is a booster of sorts which allows Ninjas to do many things.

However a Jinchuriki is probably-no _certain_ to stand above other Ninjas in almost all regards thanks to their Chakra and their supply of Buji Chakra. What's so special about this?

A) A Buji's Chakra is the _most_ dense Chakra you can get in the world. It is _so_ dense in such amounts that the Buji probably accounts for the vast majority in the world. So yeah, that's a handy tool to have.

B) As a result of A, the Jinchuriki's own Chakra gets affected and takes on more of the Buji's traits. Hell 9 months and baby Naruto got the whiskers that were _passed_ onto his kids.

But anyway, because of this Naruto's Chakra is Dense. As in _really really_ Dense to the point where one portion of his Chakra to the same amount to the average Ninja would be several times more potent Dense.

No wonder why he failed at making a simple Clone. That E-rank Jutsu wasn't meant to take that much Chakra at once no matter how little he put in it.

But at the same time, THIS is the reason why Naruto can use Rasangan so well. THIS is the reason why Naruto literally spams Rasangans. It's not because he was too lazy to learn anything else.

It's more that most Jutsus that can work for him require too much control for his Dense Chakra Reserve at that point and the ones that don't are high powered ones that you generally don't want people on using.

And the fact that the time required for said control would probably take years for Naruto to develop and he didn't have the time and safety to become a balanced Ninja.

Chakra Density is a thing in this Fic and its going to influence later how much trouble Naruto has with Jutsus in general.

Now that's done, onto those 'Chakra Control Techniques' I have in the chapter.

The base concept of them is simple.

Namely how could Chakra Control be used in a fight.

Chakra Compression can be considered a rough version of Tsunade's Strength Jutsu.

Chakra Cycling is a way to loosen up your body with Chakra making your muscles less tense and also allows you to temporary to recover stamina a bit.

And Chakra Folding is a way to make your Chakra more dense. Guess how badly that'll go for Naruto later on?

Canon basically gives us next to nothing on how normal Ninjas fight. We have near ridiculous explanations that borders more on Clan Jutsu and other Unique Jutsus that the common average Ninja can not do.

Serious the most normal Ninja I can see in Konoha at first thought is Iruka of all people.

The above three techniques?

Basically me making up _why_ Chunins are generally better than Genin in what they do. They have techniques that make them physically better along with access and use of Elemental Jutsus.


	24. Chapter 23 - The Tool called White Snow

**Chapter 23: The Tool called White Snow**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

The first overall day of training was in one word exhausting.

For someone who was still 'recovering', Kakashi was a mean person when training especially seriously. Naruto and Sasuke were all bruised over with using as much of their Chakra in getting down Chakra Compression to a good enough level that it made a noticeable difference compared to Chakra Enhancement in that area.

Though most of the bruising came with them learning how to fight using it to begin with.

Sasuke showed his talent in learning faster than Naruto as he kept up with the latter's learning speed even when Naruto was using a hundred Shadow Clones practising the technique.

Though rough, Naruto managed to get down using enough Chakra to compress in a second while Sasuke only took half a second to do the same.

But the difference again was that Naruto pumped out more Chakra even unconsciously and consciously trying to control it and in turn made it so that Naruto was already able to triple his normal power using Chakra Compression compared to Sasuke's double in power.

This along with Naruto's resistance seal holding him back 1.75x compared to Sasuke's 1.5x resistance seal made it clear that Naruto was more 'powerful' but Sasuke was 'faster' in their attacks not that either minded.

Naruto could deal with his lack of speed using Chakra Compression with Shadow Clones but Sasuke needed to be faster when using it since he didn't have the benefit of splitting himself into a thousand at will.

And their training with Chakra Compression only last half the day. The second half of the day was spent with Chakra Compression which to Naruto was a painful experience with him gaining the memories and pains of his Shadow Clones.

To Sasuke this came with a lot of stress even with his Chakra Control which finally evened out to High Genin like his Chakra Reserves.

Working with that little Chakra was hard for him though not as bad as Naruto. Naruto on the other hand had to literally work backwards in decreasing the amount of Chakra he would cycle around his body.

Those Chakra Points would strain when he used Chakra Cycling but it gave his Shadow Clones a good boost before they overcharged it and popped along with a headache.

"Man Kakashi-sensei can be vicious when he wants to…" Naruto muttered. Right now was near the end of the first day of training and Naruto wanted to relax and recover for the next day of battle.

He was so tired that he didn't realised that he fell asleep while trying to relax and recover for the next day of battle.

* * *

"Shinobi-san. Shinobi-san! You'll catch a cold if you sleep here" a calm soothing voice called out to him.

It wasn't the harpy voice of Sakura but something softer like the voice of Tazuna's daughter; Tsunami. Yes-it was a kind voice to Naruto which was uncommon. The only female he could remember was Ayame-nee and maybe one or two old ladies.

Oh and that Uchiha woman…Mikoto something. For some reason she helped him out once or twice before that incident that caused Sasuke to be the same as him in more ways than he liked.

Opening his eyes he saw a woman in a Kimono type clothing or something similar to that. It was white but had a red outline at the front and at the collar and had spirals dotted around the white. Even the obi-jime cord was white but was loosely tied for comfort.

She also wore a black choker strip around her neck as well.

"Huh?" Naruto unlike the inexperienced person he used to be was on full alert now but didn't do anything. This person might be a normal civilian…her Chakra didn't seem hostile at all so he gave her that.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked though still tired and yawned out unconsciously.

The girl giggled and said, "My name is Haku and I'm here to collect some medical herbs for a friend that became ill recently."

"Oh" Naruto couldn't refute that since he didn't know much of medicine at all.

He would need to look into that later after he finished up his studies to move onto the Intermediate stage of Fuinjutsu.

There were 10 ranks in Fuinjutsu and Beginners were rank 1-2, Intermediate were rank 3-4, Advance were rank 5-6 and Masters ranged from 7-10. It was said that even the Yondaime Hokage was only a rank 8 Fuinjutsu Master.

Back to the girl named Haku Naruto found himself really having nothing else to do but train and even with Shadow Clones it was nice at least to talk to someone new.

"My name is Naruto" he replied, "You know I can help you out if you want. As long as you tell me what they do!" Naruto grinned at the end. This was a chance for new knowledge after all and he might as well start some minor medical knowledge at least enough to make sure he didn't poison himself.

Haku looked uncertain for a moment but then smiled and said, "Sure Naruto. If I recall there are some medical herbs that do well for recovering fatigue and regain strength. They go by many names and I'm not sure what they're called where you're from but around here they are simply called 'Healing Herbs'. I'll show you what one looks like."

With that, Naruto followed the strange but kind girl to an area with lots of small plants growing around the place.

He could tell that some were edible with his survival training…and real life experience at times.

Squinting down, Naruto muttered out, "This stuff this medicine? Huh" he started to pick them and place them into the basket that Haku brought with her.

"Thanks for helping out" Haku said doing the same as Naruto though in a gentler and much more skilled way.

"You sure working early lady" Naruto replied asking innocently though inside he wanted to know if he needed to suspect this person.

"You too" Haku nodded, "What are you doing here at this time of morning?"

"Ehhh?" Naruto whined a bit but still said, "Training. Must have dosed off due to exhaustion or something."

Haku looked surprise as Naruto continued.

"It's good to learn something new! Especially something about healing since…" Naruto took a slightly darker look, "I may need to patch my friends up if they ever get hurt."

"I see" Haku paused for a second and then asked suddenly, "That headband…are you a ninja?" looking at the forehead protector around his neck.

Naruto nodded but unlike before did not exclaim it out. It was better NOT to make sure that everyone in the area knew you were one. There were places where ninjas were not…approved to go into without certain people liking them there.

He stared into Haku wanting to see any kind of reaction he needed to be worried about.

"Why are you training?" Haki asked with a slight blush.

And with a grin Naruto replied, "Because I want to become stronger!" That was true, there were so many failures already even if no one except him knew. He needed to be stronger no matter what!

"Hmm…" Haku's eyes judged him, "But you already look plenty strong."

"No no!" Naruto retorted, "I want to be even stronger!"

"…." Haku stared at Naruto for a moment again and asked, "Why…is that?"

"So I can become the best ninja in my village! I'm going to make everyone acknowledge my strength and that I will protect them no matter what when I take the hat of Hokage! And right now I also need to prove somrthing to someone."

Naruto offhandedly remembered Inari's second rant of how pitiful his life was. It was indeed bad but far from the worse he heard.

"Is that for someone else? Or for yourself?" Haku asked confusing Naruto. He could only let out a, "Ha?" in response causing Haku to giggle greatly at this interesting child.

"W-What's so funny?" Naruto shouted with a blush. This was the first time a girl giggled like that due to him. They were either scorning his every action or comparing him to the Teme so this was strange for him.

"Do you have someone who's important to you?" Haku asked with a light smile.

Naruto remembered back into his memories. Iruka-, Hokage-jiji, Ayame and Teuchi were the first true bonds he ever had. They were his family. Team 7 save Sakura were important to him as well even if all they did were train and talk a bit.

"Yes" Naruto said with resolve, "And I will protect them no matter what."

"When…a person has something important to protect, that's when they truly become strong" Haku said casually but Naruto knew and felt the importance of these words. Yes…this was exactly like the 'Will of Fire' that Iruka and Hokage-jiji talked about.

"…."

With a smile, a true smile (That would make a certain Heiress faint) Naruto replied, "Yeah. I understand that very well" causing Haku to smile in the same way as him.

A moment later Haku packed of the rest of the medicine herbs in her basket and turned and walked away but not before saying, "You will become strong. Let's meet again somewhere."

"Sure Masked Hunter-Nin" Naruto cheerfully answered and snickered when he mind-fucked her a bit, "Those herbs are for Zabuza right? Kakashi-sensei is aching for a rematch with him you know. Just…don't target the civilians."

Naruto felt the area around them tense under something that was neither killing intent nor Chakra. This was the feeling of a fight that may come at any moment…and something that Naruto experienced too much back in Konoha for him to be bothered to flinch. No…there was something else he couldn't put his finger on…

"Understood Shinobi-san" Haku answered formally even though he had given her his name before walking away, "Oh…and I'm a boy."

Naruto actually was startled enough to blurt out a, "Huh?" throwing him off his game completely.

Guy? GUY?! There was no way that person was a guy! The voice, figure and even motions were perfect for a girl! Or was it due to that Haku as a guy was so good at being a girl or was Haku really a girl?

Damn he wished he had a nose like Kiba to tell the difference.

And as Sasuke approached giving a strange look at Haku, both Genin did not notice that long above the trees were covered in frost, as the temperature there dropped so much.

* * *

The next day, Naruto and the team with a fully recovered Kakashi set off with Tazuna to the bridge that was nearly finished now.

Even if Zabuza didn't appear, Gato was certain to send someone else to off the rest of the people working there. By a week since the team got to Wave; half the workers either left or were killed off in their homes.

Needless to say; morale was pretty low and Naruto considered it partly his fault.

Sure he had training but he also could've helped out with the situation in Wave more. You know; going beyond the mission requirement would give Konoha a firm hold onto who Wave goes to for their mission.

The next closest place was Mizu and frankly that place was still in civil war so there was no contest there.

But on the other hand it was likely they were going to be slaughtered or something would go wrong. It would be nice to know these kinds of things so Naruto had some Shadow Clones hidden in Tazuna's home as guards for Tsunami and Inari.

The latter grew on him and frankly he was going to enjoy mind-fucking him in several ways in later loops.

'Though Shadow Clones would be useless against real Ninjas even Genin if there's no enough room to dodge or time to block' Naruto mused though he doubt Gato would send anyone but grunts for the hostage situations and Zabuza wouldn't dare do such a thing due to his pride even if they were supposed to be ninjas.

Assassin, a bodyguard, a villain, a soldier or a weapon of war.

Might as well add in gardener, cook, babysitter, manual labour for all those D-ranks as well though most of them were to help you in infiltration or some sort of training.

"So we're going to face Zabuza and his masked goon as well?" Naruto asked.

"SHUT UP BAKA! LIKE THE LIKES OF YOU CAN KNOW THAT!" Sakura screamed. Naruto flinched along with everyone else in a mile radius due to the sound though he noticed that Sakura had dark spots under her eyes.

"Mare mare, please be quiet since we DO want an element of surprise" Kakashi chided though giving off a bit of killing intent to reinforce that since he had sensitive ears…and Sakura may as well damaged everyone's potential there.

"Sakura…shut up or I will make you" Sasuke added. If it was even possible, Sasuke despised Sakura even more than his usual fan-girls. At least after a while with Kakashi forcing training and Naruto's pranks when they slack off; they would get the message.

Seeing that Sakura was about to speak again and it was either going to insult him or be loud or both; Naruto said, "Sakura if you stay quiet, the Teme here will go on a date with you when we get back to Konoha."

Two heads shot to him with one with hope and the other in disbelief though Naruto added in a whisper since he was next to him and Sakura on the other side with Kakashi and Tazuna as buffers, "Don't worry; you're safe since I need a good team-mate for now. I didn't say how long or whether one of my Shadow Clones in a Transformation would take your place…and disappear when she doesn't notice which won't take much."

"…."

Sasuke nodded though still frowned to this but pushed back his worry when Naruto perked up and said, "Oh that reminds me, what kind of strategy are we using? I mean there's Zabuza and his masked goon but what about Gato?"

"What about him? He isn't a danger since he's not a ninjas" Sasuke asked with scorn. It seemed his tendency to underestimate those 'below' him was still an issue.

'I need to work on that later so he isn't that much of a Teme' Naruto thought, 'I already worked on making him at least polite in front of other Ninjas and those at a relatively high position.'

Yes it was a work in process but the three minus Sakura who is still day-dreaming of the possibility of getting close to Sasuke and raping him. Yeah…Sakura took the role of fan-girl to a new limit called stalker.

After spending an hour while escorting Tazuna to the bridge, it was Naruto who was using Chakra Enhancement on his sense of smell who immediately knew something was wrong. There was a distinct smell of blood in the area to the bridge.

"Sensei…there's blood at the bridge" Naruto warned.

Kakashi tensed and seeing this; Sasuke did to and after a moment to register the thought so did Tazuna. The reason why Kakashi didn't sense this first was that he needed to save every scrap of Chakra to face against Zabuza and he knew Naruto had the reserves to do so in his place at least.

And with that warning, the Team was quite tense as they confirmed what Naruto smelled.

"My God…" Tazuna let out a gasp of shock, "Everyone is…?"

In front of them was the scene of the slaughter of the workers that wished to build a bridge of hope to their land that was drowned in despair. And with blood still soaking his blade stood one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, an A-rank missing-nin Zabuza along with his comrade the fake hunter-nin.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura! Protect Tazuna no matter what! If you can, leave Shadow Clones if you get into the fight as well" Kakashi barked out.

Zabuza let out a chuckle at the scene and the comment at the end, "My my, it's as if you didn't know we were here to begin with. However do you really think you can take both of us at the same time? This time your brats will be slaughtered before you as well."

Letting out a burst of killing intent which made the situation all that worse, Zabuza summoned out 20 Water Clones easily since they were surrounded by water and there's fog all around them as well. Lots of water for him to work with unfortunately.

Naruto frowned seeing this since even if they trained and got stronger, it would still be difficult to take them all down.

"Teme…release the resistance seal if you want to live through this…it's no time to hold back now" he warned before disabling the seal boosting his power and speed up by 75%. Every bit would help them right now.

And with a grunt Sasuke did so but then Kakashi took a glance at his team and said, "Sasuke, do it" causing the Uchiha to smirk as he charged in.

He was quite quick and frankly Naruto's resistance seal-less state was only a bit higher than Sasuke's resistance seal state.

The Teme without the seal bringing his speed down was evidently faster even compared to him as he used a single Kunai to easily take down those 20 Water Clones in an instant.

Splash~

Water tumbled down as a good deal of the people there was in shock. Kakashi seemed perfectly aware of Sasuke's improvements but Naruto wasn't.

'Wow…even I can't do that. Guess the Teme is a LOT better when he learns something new' Naruto thought seeing the Water Clones all turning into water as they were 'killed'. Naruto wasn't able to replicate what Sasuke just did.

That set of moves Sasuke did required a lot of speed, good vision and even more so great reaction time to get it down right. Speed and even vision could be enhanced with chakra but not reaction time.

Naruto simply lacked the speed to process and react to everything around him at that speed currently but Sasuke did.

It wasn't like he was jealous of Sasuke's natural talent, Naruto still had a stupidly large amount of Chakra in him that none he knew of could match.

Seeing Sasuke killing those Water Clones quite quickly the masked boy turned over and muttered out worryingly, "Zabuza-sama…"

However Zabuza smirked at the sight and said, "Not bad brat. It looks like you have some talent; managing to kill my water clones with a single week worth of training. However you are still vastly outmatched. Haku."

"Understood Zabuza-sama" Haku replied walking forward as everyone else watched on. Naruto was really regretting not making some Shadow Clones before this battle, he did so with Tazuna's home so why did he forget now?!

If he did then the Jonins would notice something was wrong…though that reminds Naruto that he needs to learn how to better suppress his Chakra.

Naruto glanced at Kakashi who noticed the expression and muttered, "Don't worry. Sasuke can take care of this fine."

Naruto nodded watching as Sasuke and Haku; the boy (?) (Naruto still believes Haku is a girl. In his mind someone as pretty as Haku MUST be a girl) he talked to the previous day fighting each other.

Both sides were dashing across the bridge and using their Taijutsu skills to battle it out at speeds that any civilian would fail to see….and also Sakura.

Squinting his eyes, Naruto noticed something. Haku's Taijutsu was actually pretty bad…worse than Sasuke's at least and around his level?

Haku was being pushed back bit by bit as Sasuke pressed on in their Taijutsu duel while he used Sebons to force Sasuke to momentarily retreat or dodge in such a way that Haku has more time to correct his stance.

For someone trained by one of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist; Haku was surprisingly weak in close combat. Though…

"I got you!" Sasuke declared with his Kunai pointing at Haku forcing the latter to block with three Sebons in between his knuckles.

Anyone skilled enough could tell that the two were in a stalemate but Sasuke was a distinct advantage with his attack pressuring Haku while the latter could not attack in turn due to that. Sasuke would react too quickly and end Haku if she even tries to retreat.

However apparently no one told that to Haku.

"Really?" she asked tilting her head, "Right now you are lacking one hand to attack like myself. You cannot use any Jutsus in your current state while I can!"

Haku started to flick through hand-seals with one hand rapidly. All three males in Team 7 widened their eyes rapidly seeing this. One handed hand-seals were rare because you needed to be extremely familiar with the Jutsu and also have even more precise Chakra Control to use a Jutsu with one had.

"Teme! Get out of there!" Naruto shouted while about to move in to attack.

Kakashi was glaring at Zabuza who was doing the same with a smug look since if Kakashi moved, Zabuza did and vis versa which meant that only Naruto get into the fight.

Starting to run, Naruto could not even make half the distance as Haku called out, "Water Style: Thousand Flying Needles of Death!" while slamming her foot down on the wet ground.

In the next moment Naruto's instincts flared out and forced his body to jump back just as Sasuke's eyes widened.

The moment after that, water through water chakra manipulation stayed still in the air and formed into countless sharp needles around the pair.

And the third moment in a row, both Haku and Sasuke leaped away from the target area with surprising ease leaving the place they were standing being filled up completely with water needles before they turned back into plain water.

'Hm?'

And then Naruto realised that a certain masked person was now charging at him since he unwittingly stepped into the battle to step with Sebons in both hands and moving those weapons dangerously close to his neck.

Dodging for the first strike, Naruto panicked. It wasn't _him_ who was supposed to fight Haku right now but the Teme! Where the hell is he anyway?

Looking over, Naruto found Sasuke with a couple of Senbons in his leg and in the process of pulling them out. Great, Haku disabled him and now he was going to fight at least until Sasuke can get himself back together.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! The Teme is the one you want to fight Haku!" Naruto shouted out in a hurry but his plea of not fighting the girl was unheard. Several more Sebons were flung at him and Naruto really wanted to get out of this fight.

It was simply not cool to steal Sasuke's fight.

Especially when said enemy was someone he knew (Even briefly) and was really good at putting thin _pointy_ objects near his vitals and _eyes_.

Yeah he was getting the hell out of the fight when he dodge this last strike thatwasgettingreallyreallycloseSHIT!

BANG!

The shockwave of Naruto dodging using Chakra Enhancement and Chakra Compression to the best of his ability was loud enough not to mention that the ground was now cracked in several places spreading across several. Naruto could've sworn he heard Tazuna wail of despair at that moment.

However the biggest surprise was due to Naruto highly _highly_ overcharging both techniques beyond what is normally possible for some people; he was inevitably flung off the side the bridge and into the water.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHIT!"

And in another 2 seconds of flying in the air, Naruto landed and skipped across the water before he managed to turn his body around and slide back into a stop facing the bridge with a look of shock on his face.

And before he realised the potential of his body being able to take that much force with his leg already strangely healing the numerous cracks across the bone and the muscle tissues coming back from being ripped apart; the first thing Naruto thought of was:

"DAMN! IT'S GOING TO TAKE FOREVER TO GET BACK NOW!"

* * *

Back on the bridge there were mixed responses especially to Kakashi and Zabuza who were both considered strong even in the Shinobi World where throwing a massive fireball or moving across countries in days or hours depending on the size. Frankly Shinobi weren't _normal_ and what Naruto did with one kick to dodge a blow was _NOT_ _normal_.

 _One does not simply get flung off like that with a single kick. ESPECIALLY when said person was that small!_

The rest of Team 7 plus the masked Haku were standing there stunned at the scene while Tazuna was muttering something about not drinking anything funny since the blonde brat disappeared.

"Well…that was interesting" Kakashi started, "I DID tell him NOT to overpower those techniques…but I'm more worried if my student is alive and in one piece after that."

"What the hell did you teach that brat?" Zabuza asked to which Kakashi replied nonchalantly while panicking internally, "Mare mare, this and that."

Sasuke and Sakura both sweatdropped hearing that and the former finally managed to get back his feeling in his leg that was disabled.

Who would've known that the masked kid could throw and aim that well to hit him as they were both retreating from that attack.

Sigh…if only he had the Sharingan to copy the move.

"Zabuza-sama, I am of your command" Haku replied stiffly seeing Naruto flying that far away…

Zabuza grunted and then flashed through a couple of hand-seals beyond what normal people could tell and then said, "Haku deal with the duck-butt brat before going for the blonde brat. Water Style: Hidden in the Mist Jutsu!" before mist rapidly expanded from his body.

Seeing this Kakashi barked out, "Sakura! Protect Tazuna no matter what" before mist consumed his body as he charged at Zabuza and disappearing from Sakura's sight. Sasuke on the other hand was back in battle with Haku and as a result all three groups were split from each other in sight alone.

Due to this Sakura started to panic.

What you don't know, what you can't see will frighten you. She knew that her Sasuke-kun and her Sensei was fine but at the same time there was this _fear_ of what if they failed and the next one to fight and _die_ was her.

No Sasuke to fight for her.

No Kakashi to protect her.

Not even Naruto-baka to use for bait.

Holding a Kunai and shaking every time a large noise from both battles was heard. All she wanted was to be with her Sasuke-kun. This was supposed to be easy! This was supposed to be a simple C-rank with no risk! Her Ninja life was supposed to bring her in glory!

* * *

Meanwhile back at Tazuna's home…

The few Shadow Clones that Naruto left there managed to take out the mercenaries out fine. It was a good thing he left them there after all..

* * *

Naruto by the time he got close enough to the bridge noticed that there was a lot of mist around.

This meant that both Kakashi and Zabuza were fighting now and also Sasuke and Haku were probably fighting as well.

'Damn things better not go bad. I just saved Tsunami and Inari from those bandit-mercenaries' Naruto thought bitterly. There was a certain irony in that a civilian businessman would do so instead of a trained Shinobi.

However the next thing he knew was a heaven piercing scream from a memory from the Shadow Clones with Tsunami.

The next thing he knew he was back at Tazuna's home not knowing what the fuck happened.

 _Checkpoint 4: Loop 1 End (Total Loops 59)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Muhahaha I am evil in screwing up Naruto's plans.

And who exactly is this person who managed to kill one of Tazuna's family?

Plot plot plot ploooooooot!

Anyway, did anyone expect _that_ to be the results of Naruto using Chakra Enhancement which basically boosted your strength and speed and _amplified_ that result with Chakra Compression.

I had half a mind to make Naruto's leg explode from Chakra Overload.

But I didn't since such a death was basically just gore at this point.

These are probably the three most important techniques that Naruto could learn to help him in general but at the same time they'll also be the most difficult to learn and use in battle.

Simply put, Naruto has too much Chakra.

Too much Chakra and these techniques do not mix.

As in too much and limbs and parts will explode.

However this is actually how I envisioned Naruto getting enough Chakra Control to the point where he could attempt and be able to use the Rasangan later on eventually.

But then again, while Rasangan IS Chakra Control, it's also not completely about Chakra Control. Its about Chakra Density and Chakra Control at the same time. The less Density is have naturally, the more Chakra Control you need to use Rasangan.

That's probably why Naruto learnt it so fast and easily.

His Chakra Density must have been high enough that he Canon Chakra Control which was probably at Genin levels at best adding in Water-Walking allowed him to use a bastardised version with a Shadow Clone.

Even if he could only use it for a short few seconds.


	25. Chapter 24 - More Training Adjustment

**Chapter 24: More Training Adjustments**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto was annoyed.

It wasn't unusual for him to be annoyed recently thanks to the multiple new things he had to deal with but this was pushing it.

He didn't even _know_ what the hell happened to Tsunami in order for the Loop to end just like that. His Shadow Clones died too quickly for him to gain anything from it.

It could be another enemy Ninja using any of the arts, or pretty much anything including poison or a summon taking her down permanently.

It appeared as though that he needed to protect her and her currently sulking and emo son from death to pass this checkpoint. And he thought that things wouldn't get _more_ complicated than it already was.

He was _sure_ that his Team plus Tazuna and his family needed to live. What about the rest of the Country of Wave? Did they need to live in order to pass the checkpoint; even if they didn't Naruto with his morals would protect them no matter what. A ninja does not abandon people! Though that thought was ironic itself.

Naruto was half sure that Gato needed to be killed or something along those lines.

Even with a sizable amount of Ryo in his bank account (Which ALL ninjas obtain when becoming a Genin); he wasn't scrap for cash since 500K from all those D-ranks made him quite wealthy for a young Orphan.

And that was the amount of cash he made with the bare minimum payout D-rank missions!

'And Gato is sure to have a lot more at his base…wherever it is…or he did the smart thing and hidden all those account names and money away from here' Naruto thought leaning towards Gato taking the safe path no matter how arrogant he was in thinking he could take over a country.

Then there was Zabuza and Haku.

He wasn't sure whether they needed to live or die for him to pass onto the next checkpoint but it would be nice to have a sign.

CRACK!

Space ripped open again and another note fell to Naruto. He snatched it out of the air before the space in which the note came from repaired itself as if nothing happened there at all. Naruto read the note and almost snared.

 _Conditions for next checkpoint:_

 _Good job in getting pass Zabuza the first time. Long story short you are up to the part where lots and lots of things can happen. First of all, someone from Tazuna and his family needs to survive of course since they will be the core of the country later on and are a constant you need to follow. Plus I doubt you would want innocent people to die either way._

 _As for everyone else…they're free game. Even your team is free game aside from you, well after a certain point that is. From this point, most of the restrictions will disappear._

 _In summary, make sure the family lives, maybe kill Gato for being a giant prick and survive in general._

 _I mean, how HARD is it to get this down especially considering how much experience you have. Best to not make dying a habit else you may find yourself in trouble when you can't come back from the dead at will._

 _Signed, An Observer._

Great. Fantastic. More people to protect. Not that he wasn't already but still.

But who from Tazuna's family did he need to protect. It could be Tazune, the old drunk. That would make sense since he's the one building the bridge to the village's hope.

Then there was Tsunami which didn't make much sense since she's a housewife. And finally there was Inari, the brat who he needed to snap the emo out of him.

Yeah…it was probably Tazuna but he would better protect the rest of his family equally as well.

'Hmm…Traps. Yeah, traps would be a solution since it could easily take care of those mercenaries that came the last loop and might stall whatever killed someone the last time as well' Naruto thought with a grin. Traps were after all his expertise over everything else.

Yes, and why stop at just the house. There was also the bridge to consider and if he could trap it well enough, he could also save those workers that Zabuza killed as well.

And the village as well. That place was truly a wreck with people with no spirit, buildings all but ruined and people either stealing from each other to survive or trying to protect the last of their lives by submitting completely to Gato and his goons.

He got the memories from his Shadow Clones shadowing Tazuna while Sakura 'guarded' him. At least she proved that she had a mean right hook and _some_ mercy to children though giving just sweets weren't enough for a starving child.

Naruto supposed he could help there as well in a later Loop if he could. He needed to work things one at a time first.

Training was important to him and now that he had two Earth Jutsus plus three possible Advance Battle Chakra Techniques to work with his Shadow Clones; he was opened to a lot more types of training.

The first thing he wanted to do was master Chakra Compressing, Chakra Cycling and Chakra Folding for both the battle potential and extra Chakra Control it would give him.

But on the other hand mastering even one of those techniques would take _month_ even with Shadow Clones helping him and he didn't want to waste Kakashi donating some Jutsus or techniques for him to use later on.

Looking over to the still sleeping Sensei, Naruto simply chuckled. Since he already had some Jutsus in the Earth element; it would be wise to move onto another element. At bare minimum he wanted to learn at least 2 Jutsus each in each nature affinity.

Plus the Body Flicker Jutsu. Sure Kakashi actually taught him how to use it, he wasn't very good at it due to Naruto often overpowering the Jutsu too much each time and ending up with too much speed and not enough reaction time to not hit a tree…or the ground.

The Body Flicker Jutsu was a very useful Jutsu to use in travelling and even in combat due to the high speeds you can gain due to it.

The only weakness is that you can only travel in a straight line and that it is hard to tell what is happening while you're moving.

Those two points made it easy for ninjas to die from attacks as they moved or just as they landed. Because of this, ninjas often cover their initial movements with a puff of smoke though this is useless against those who can tell where you are moving even with the speed boost.

Nonetheless; Naruto found the Jutsu highly useful…even if it would take a while for him to master it enough. He had a feeling he would master it the moment he gained any kind of mastery in those Battle Chakra Control exercises.

With a sigh Naruto decided it would best for him to run over the tactics he had developed using Shadow Clones again. He surely did not want to waste too much time with Kakashi working on it in contrast in adding more Jutsus to them.

'First there was Chakra Enhancement which was a rough and cruel version of Chakra Compression. To compare the two techniques, Chakra Enhancement would be a straight line increase along with how much Chakra I used while Chakra Compression would curve upwards rapidly' he thought.

"Let's see…with Chakra Compression my Shadow Clones gained more power and speed naturally but more on the power side."

And since they were Shadow Clones and did not suffer the physical consequences of overdoing it and instead popped and as a result, the power and speed of his Shadow Clones were actually a bit higher than his own using this thanks to this fact.

This was an advantage even if they get taken out in one hit and the Shadow Clone was certain to disappear after one attack using this method.

"With Chakra Cycling my Shadow Clones gain another boost in power and speed along with recovering any fatigue they gained."

Like with Chakra Compression, his Shadow Clones could go beyond what is normally possible for the real him except that almost immediately the Shadow Clones would pop as a result.

Chakra Cycling wasn't that useful for Shadow Clones aside from the minor boost since Shadow Clones needn't to recover at all.

"Last is Chakra Folding…which isn't that good aside from making my Ninjutsu better for larger attacks which I don't know any of" he sighed.

Chakra Folding helped with executing Jutsus with more power and speed but there was almost no use for Shadow Clones to use it.

With another sigh, Naruto wondered when he would be strong enough to not rely on others for protection.

* * *

The rest of the day went smoothly with Naruto taking advantage of the lessons that Kakashi taught him with him explaining the basic concepts of the Three Battle Chakra Control Exercises.

This time Sasuke would be prepared for the fight sooner than before…as long as he gets down Tree-Climbing a least.

No matter how quickly Sasuke may grow in such a situation where it was a matter of life and death, Naruto still had 2 years more training than him. He was really still catching up on some of the basics.

Though he suspected that if this Time Loop thing didn't happen than Naruto would've to depend on his ever growing Chakra Reserves that was picking up in growth due to puberty and his also ever growing Stamina to catch up.

"Hn. So if I master this then I'll get stronger?" Sasuke asked to which Naruto nodded and grinned, "Yep and with that you can probably get a good hold on Chakra Compression. I mean you would _want_ a technique that allow you to do that right?"

Naruto pointed at the tree which had a large hole to the side of it causing it to tilt over to lean on another tree. Sasuke seeing the destruction immediately wanted to learn how to do it but couldn't despite Naruto's instructions which went back to Tree-Climbing.

"Looks like you have to learn Tree-Climbing first" Naruto sighed, he was hoping that Sasuke didn't need that extra Chakra Control for now but it seems he was wrong.

Sasuke looked strangely at Naruto and asked, "Hn?"

Naruto nodded and replied, "Yeah, the concept is that you use your Chakra to stick your body onto things" and with that he started walking up a tree vertically leaving Sasuke more or less shocked, "Any experience Genin would know how to do this along with Water-Walking. You can see how this is highly useful for any Shinobi to have right?"

"…."

Sasuke thought about it for a bit and then looked at Naruto with gleam in his eyes, "Hn. Tree-Climbing allows for three-dimensional fighting in the air. Water-Walking is the same over water."

"Correct~!"

Naruto leaped down off the tree and landed on the ground with his legs reinforced with Chakra to lessen the damage to them to almost nothing.

"Plus think of all the Jutsus you can later learn with better Chakra Control" Naruto added which only sweetened the deal. Kakashi-sensei wouldn't have much to teach Sasuke for the rest of the week when he was done with him.

"Now to achieve Tree-Climbing…"

* * *

With his explanation on the basic concept of Tree-Climbing done, Naruto was now using his Shadow Clones to wonder around the Country of Wave.

He didn't know why he didn't do this the first time round but now with the occasional Shadow Clone popping; he was getting a better gasp of what was happening around Wave.

And on another note, it seemed that Sasuke didn't need the motivation of death to fully engage him into training.

He was already driven by vengeance to Itachi to begin with and was only aided by the fact that _he_ the dead-last, the _dobe_ knew all of this before him.

Naruto couldn't help but to snort.

He had asked around in a Transformation before about what kind of training that was expected for a Genin under a Jonin-Sensei would learn and lo and belo; in the first month those Genin were expected to learn both Tree-Climbing and Water-Walking as a bare minimum before going off to C-rank missions.

'I have no bloody idea where Kakashi got the idea that Team 7 was ready for C-ranks even if he said it was only due to him waiting for me of all people to show he knew what he was doing' Naruto thought.

Kakashi was lazy as hell; _everyone_ knew that.

But at the same time he would also willingly die for a comrade and that showed in the fact that _everyone_ trusted him with their lives.

And it does help in the teaching department that Genin were supposed to research what they wanted to learn. When Naruto wanted better Taijutsu Kakashi did the most logical thing and placed him with the _best_ Taijutsu teacher he could get; even if he wasn't directly teaching per say.

Even if Kakashi didn't want to teach them (He's the copy-nin with a Thousand Jutsus for crying out!), he still had connections to the other experts in the village.

The proof is that Kakashi _would_ give them proper training if they asked…the right way that is. Demanding him anything doesn't work and he forces you to build up your basics.

Basics that Naruto lacked and was repaired and built up again immediately.

Shaking his head, Naruto walked to an area deeper in the forest where he knew he wasn't going to be disturbed for the rest of the day.

Tomorrow he needed to be back at Tazuna's place for Kakashi's revelation that Zabuza was not dead and then sticking it to Sakura again.

'Oh I _enjoyed_ doing that more than I should' he thought. There was something about ripping someone he _hated_ apart. At this point everything that made him have a _crush_ on the girl disappeared.

He didn't need the attention of trying to pursue an impossible target anymore or her _affections_. Naruto wanted to spit at that last point. He was a fool and he knew it back then.

There was little time to set up everything so things would go the way he wanted in this and the following possible loops.

He was going to make sure that the country of Wave was protected from Gato and Zabuza.

He was going to trap the hell out of the places around the small village and possible paths to it.

And it was going to take a LOT of time and Shadow Clones and his materials to do so.

A week wasn't a lot of time considering his need of training.

* * *

Cue Kakashi waking up, his revelations and him ripping apart Sakura in front of everyone.

He did it so well that the girl was more to the brink of a sobbing mess than last time. No one really wanted to comment on his words since they were _technically_ true but in somewhat extreme in how I worded it.

There were plenty of people more useless than Sakura; otherwise those who could not manage to graduate from the Academy into Genin.

Yeah, that really didn't make sense; for _only_ 9 Genin to appear every year. _Surely_ there were other methods that Konoha kept to maintain the number of their forces.

Naruto momentarily pondered where those failed graduates went.

It was pretty clear that since they failed they would go back to the Academy… _but_ if that was the case and the number of graduates would make the graduating class much _much_ bigger.

Yeah…he would need to ask and find out later…maybe to Hokage-jiji but that is waaaay to long away for him to remember properly to ask. Kakashi would be better.

It would take him another 2 days to properly move without a crutch and another 4 to fully recover.

And by then the battle with Zabuza and Haku on the bridge will happen again. Though this time he was going to be a lot more prepared; first was making sure those workers are safe this time round.

He would need to have extra care in trapping the bridge to allow those two to appear but at the same time do so that they fall easily to him and his traps.

With that line of thought Naruto knew it was impossible even with the help of Funjutsu to aid him. Zabuza was a Jonin and that meant he was good. Very good at what he did since he survived that long.

With a sigh, Naruto grabbed a stick from the ground and then started drawing a rough map of Wave.

The village or town was near the centre and there were several…no a LOT of rivers cutting through the country to make it seem more like several small islands with little space between each other.

Then there was the bridge to the west side of the country which was half complete meaning a good portion of the bridge was deeply guarded by the water from land attacks.

Doesn't change the fact that Gato has ships which can easily negate this small advantage.

And from what Naruto could see, Tazuna also lives near the West side of the country meaning his place is near the bridge.

This made it easier and more difficult to protect the place at the same time. Easier since he didn't need to spread out his traps and Shadow Clones too much. Difficult in that if the defence at the bridge failed; then Tazuna's home was next.

Anyway he needed several sets of parameters traps in order to protect both locations as well one around the village as well.

It was a good thing that he brought pretty much all of his tools with him on the mission. He had an entire scroll dedicated to his Fuinjutsu supplies and another in part for any traps he could make to use.

Now…the first thing he would do would be to trap the area around Tazuna's home…and make sure those traps didn't activate to anyone in Tazuna's family or his Team.

* * *

Later that afternoon when Naruto finally felt that he and his Shadow Clones had protected Tazuna's house well enough, he was back to training.

He had to explain it to everyone that anyone that was not part of Team 7 as well as Tazuna's family would explode into bits quite painfully in various manners fitting to anyone trying to trespass into a protected area.

It was quite simple to protect the house itself.

There were several triggers around the area in random locations as a safety and triggers at points in which someone could get into the house as well. Mainly the front door, the windows and the places leading to that open space out the house.

Now after that, things became difficult in that Naruto needed to key people into the traps so they won't accidentally activate on them instead of enemies. This was an Intermediate level Fuinjutsu skill at bare minimum with more checks and safeties the higher your skill in Fuinjutsu was.

Naruto himself was not actually at the Intermediate level of the Fuinjutsu art but he was able still use parts of the higher level but not at the same proficiency as others at that rank.

It was like being able to kick to being able to kick while in mid-air while dropping and spinning around.

Basically for this; those with a 'key' in this case a small slip of paper would be allowed into the house undisturbed.

For those who don't…pitfalls, flying weapons and explosions are what await them.

Now back to Naruto actually training…

"Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap" Naruto continued to sigh seeing his Shadow Clones pop one at a time as they fail to progress in Chakra Compression.

He simply did not have the proper control and experience with it to have a good enough mastery of it to not damage himself while using it.

His Chakra Control by his estimates would be around High Genin despite him mastering Tree-Climbing and Water-Walking as well as combining those activities with the Leaf Exercise.

Urgggh! It frustrated him greatly since any other Ninja would have at least Chunin level Chakra Control in any other situation. What was with his Chakra that was making it hard for him to control.

Simply Quantity wasn't the only issue here. He would need to inspect his Chakra later with some mediation…perhaps it has something to do with the Kyubi. Naruto shuddered thinking of what can of worms that would open if that thing was the issue.

However with the three Battle Chakra Control Exercises which also serves as Advance Chakra Control Exercises; Naruto was sure he would break into the Chunin level Chakra Control. It would help in quite a bit since frankly his reserves of Chakra alone was getting too big too quickly.

He was already at Low Elite Jonin levels worth of Chakra and by the end of this mission and some months later he was sure that would be bumped up to Kage level reserves.

"There's…something wrong with that thought."

Low Elite Jonin levels Chakra Reserves.

"If that's the case then I can I use so many Shadow Clones? Even Kakashi-sensei can't and he implied that he has roughly the same amount of Chakra as me…" Naruto muttered but then remembered the same lessen and what Kakashi explained to him and Sasuke.

Chakra supply, capacity and density.

He was equal in supply as Kakashi but what about Chakra Capacity and Density? Hmm…he would need to ask him when he wakes up. But…until then.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he cried creating another batch of 100 Shadow Clones to refine his Chakra using Chakra Compression bit by bit. After all, this was only step one in a long list of how to get stronger.

Plus Naruto would almost do anything to gain the control to properly use the Body Flicker Jutsu.

He was still overcharging the damn Jutsu to the point where he couldn't even tell where he was going to the point he didn't even have tunnel vision while using it!

His head and body were hard and strong but it doesn't mean he likes hitting them into trees or the ground!

* * *

After Kakashi woke up, the explanation of Zabuza being alive and Haku being a fake Hunter-nin and the oh-glorious rant at Sakura; Naruto and Kakashi were finally alone with Naruto's not so subtle hints to Sasuke to start training again.

With an eyebrow raised the conversion started with Kakashi, "Soooo…what was that about?"

Naruto shrugged, "Wanted to get that off my chest for a _long_ time now. She's lucky I didn't actually attack her and that would just be messy to clean."

"Well you can't unless she turns traitor" Kakashi remained Naruto, "I don't want to need to take you down if you turn traitor because of that. Now what do you want to ask me? Don't think I didn't see you talk Sasuke to train."

"Yeah yeah" Naruto didn't bother to response properly and said with a no-nonsense tone, "I have two questions…and one statement to say to you. First is what happens to those who failed the second test for graduation? The second is why I can use more Shadow Clones than you when I should have roughly the same amount as you currently. The math doesn't add up."

"And the statement?" Kakashi inquired.

Naruto shrugged again, "I'm setting up traps. So far with my Shadow Clones, I got the house protected and such with pitfalls and other trigger traps."

"Oh and before I forget" Naruto took out a slip of paper and gave it to Kakashi, "This is the 'Key' so the traps don't activate on you."

Kakashi looked at the piece of paper seeing the uncoded seal matrix. From what he could tell (Kakashi was an Expert in Fuinjutsu. Fuinjutsu ranks from Basic, Beginner, Intermediate, Advance, Expert and Master) it was a basic Seal Matrix that was incomplete in his eyes.

A Fuinjutsu user of the appropriate rank to create 'Keys' for their Seals would be able to hide the process of the 'Key' but Naruto clearly didn't which meant he wasn't of the Intermediate Rank in Fuinjutsu.

But for a Genin at Naruto's age; hell for someone of Naruto's age to do this and connect them to so many different objects was nearly unheard of. Well…not really but _those_ people who could had many tutors to help them unlike Naruto who worked this out alone.

Naturally the Uzumaki Clan were a part of those kinds of people who were able to do stuff that even a Fuinjutsu Master like Jiraiya look plain and common but could Naruto inherit that aspect as well? Was he more like an Uzumaki like his Mother? Though his Father was also a Fuinjutsu Master.

"Interesting…" Kakashi muttered looking Naruto straight in the eyes, "You do know that this is incomplete right?"

Naruto flinched at that since he really didn't like not finishing projects but this time he really didn't have a choice. In training other aspects of himself, he hadn't been using Fuinjutsu that often and his training in that area slacked a bit.

"I have the scrolls but I'm still learning how to connect stuff together to trigger. The 'Key' stuff is just something I read about and looked it up in the later volumes to use" Naruto explained nervously but then hardened his eyes, "Now answer my questions Sensei."

"Mare mare" Kakashi not even bothering to understand the change in attitude dismissed the subtle threat and said, "There are four choices, well fivve choices when someone fails the secondary Jonin-Sensei test."

He held out five fingers, "The first is naturally they get sent back to the Academy to retrain and try again later on. These people are usually those who have some potential but haven't actually trained much. Sakura would be one of them but…"

"The second are those who continue to become Independent Genin without a Jonin-sensei to train them. These people are those who have the skills necessary for a Ninja including knowing team-work but were screwed over by their team-mates and don't want to retake another year or don't want a Jonin-sensei for whatever reason."

This makes sense and Naruto at once point would've consider this to be a good option but…Kakashi was honestly a good teacher when he wants to be.

"Alternatively the third type of Genin comes from those who become apprentices under a Jonin who does not have a team. If not for the fact that Gai wanted a full team, Lee would've been an apprentice under him though I heard that Lee is all but an apprentice either way."

Naruto nodded and shuddered at the thought of more and more of those green…things. You could tolerate it but sooner or later it gets to you…like Neji who is extra withdrawn or TenTen who tries and fails to be the guiding hand of being 'normal'.

"The fourth type are those considered Genin in all but skill. These people have technically graduated and has gotten clearance as a Ninja to work on Shinobi related matters but are too weak physically for combat. These people are the administrators and other workers you see in the Hokage Tower. If not for the fact that Sakura honestly has potential for the team even if she's not showing it, I would've stuck her there immediately."

"And naturally the final type are those who really drop out of the program for whatever reason."

Naruto pondered on why some people would drop out but remembered the butchery mission even though Team 7 didn't do it. There are just some people not suited for a Shinobi life.

"And the fact that I can make more Shadow Clones than you?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi sighed, "That…there are several reasons I believe. The first is that you can simply use more Chakra than me at one time in a literal sense. The second is that of that you regenerate Chakra at a monstrous rate as well so Chakra Exhaustion may be a bit difficult for you unless you overdo it badly…and the third is that my Chakra is highly dense more than yours to the point it's a Bloodline of sorts. I can't use wide-scale Jutsus as well as other Ninjas but I can use smaller Jutsus that are more powerful. Either way my reserves are actually smaller than it should without it. So while I can probably use the same Jutsu as you, I cannot throw them left and right as I wish."

Hearing this answer, Naruto thanked his Sensei and left for training. Now that Kakashi told him of the flaw in his design which was there because of his lack of skill, Naruto decided to get back into Fuinjutsu.

If he cannot use simply himself even with his Shadow Clones to win the fight, then Fuinjutsu may tip the tides.

* * *

 **A/N:**

The end of this chapter is my take on what happens to the other 66% of Academy Students that fail the second Jonin-sensei test and are sent back to the Academy to remedy classes.

How I see it is rather simple.

Genin are either under the guidance of a Jonin-sensei or not while they operate as a Ninja.

There are Genin who are part of a Genin team under a Jonin-sensei. These types of Genin have the best potential and warrants resources to be used to make them the possible next generation Jonins.

The entire Naruto cast are pretty much from this type of training with few exceptions which can or cannot be confirmed to Canon.

Next on the tiers of Genin are the ones under apprenticeships. Anko actually falls under this with Orchimaru. Noticed how there was no mention of said Snake Sannin having a Genin team?

These types of Genin are possibly the rarest types since the teacher, a Jonin is passing down their skills directly to the Genin, their successor.

Thirdly down the list are Genin without Jonin-senseis at all, namely Independent Genin.

These Genin are frankly good enough to be a Ninja but not good enough to have a personal Jonin-sensei to them to spare the resource nor spare the resource to turn them away from being a Ninja.

It takes resources of the Academy to train each one and Konoha be damned if they didn't want to use them as much as they could. Frankly these Genin are the types of be cannon fodder that are sent out to frankly fill out ranks, intimidate and die quickly to the enemy.

Not exactly nice to say but they are.

Finally there are the bottom Ninjas in the totem tree, quite literally. These are like Part 1 Sakura with more theoretical than practical for a Ninja but without the perfect Chakra Control and thus potential.

Think of that glasses girl in Part 2 who helped with decoding Jiraiya's final message. She isn't the type to be a combat Ninja but she could still use Chakra, be of use to the village.

Honestly in all definition, Ninjas in the Naruto world basically means those who use Chakra in one form or another.

Because of this, the definition of a Ninja went from strictly combat orientated to expand to also include Medical Ninjas, Tacticians, Interrogators and the likes. Its kinda strange to have all of these roles as ones who Ninjas nearly exclusively have instead of civilians but even civilians when trained properly can use Chakra and count as a Ninja...right?

Meh, what a Ninja is, is rather confusing so I rather not dwell on that.

 **Next part is for one reviewer really and that I was bored and that this A/N was kinda shortish without a rant.  
**

Well I was going to talk about this next topic in another 2 chapters but since one reviewer _'kindly'_ told me that I somehow screwed up in most of what I wrote about Naruto's growth here in several points and that I was a fanboy for Sasuke for not making him pathetic compared to Naruto (well that was implied though more like frustration that he really wasn't with the time he had), bad writer and most of what I did for Naruto's growth were ' _errors'._

Yeah not getting into that since I actually responded to his review with more kind words there than here frankly.

I might as well talk about Shadow Clone Training now rather than in 2 Chapters.

Basically the premise of this is that since Naruto's Shadow Clones can give him the experience that they had in the forms of memories when they dispel that he can learn things faster than normal.

And taking into account on how many Shadow Clones he can make...

You can really see how a collection of writers here using the same method can easily fall into the trap that using this training is what really made Naruto powerful and so quickly that they can use that as a plot point as well.

They basically see this kind of training as a method in which Naruto can get stronger quicker than his peers and make himself some sort of powerhouse in everything he does from there on.

I'm going to frankly say outright that Shadow Clone Training does **not** work like that!

Naruto will

Seriously Naruto only use the training twice. Once for his Wind Manipulation Training due to Akatsuki and that was only for cutting a leaf in two, cutting a waterfall in two and combining Wind Manipulation into the Rasangan. And the other for his Sage Training to sense Natural Chakra better and that was damn limited as well.

Both times he was in a dire need of time which he didn't have and both times strained him heavily in one form or another with lots and lots of stress.

So why do people think its a good idea to use this?

Frankly because its convenient to use (me guilty here as well).

What easier way to explain how Naruto grows faster in an area a writer wants him to? I mean the only other way is that Naruto is 'instinctively' good at gasping whatever he wants to learn or has a teacher that literally tells him what to do and it works.

Shadow Clone Training...is more impersonal and with a lot more effort frankly.

So I'm going to outline what I know of Shadow Clone Training and what its NOT suppose to be and errors that frankly make me cringe. Starting from what I believe to be wrong with how most people see it as.

 **Note this is not how I used Shadow Clone Training and more of my own opinion. Also edited due to plot holes~**

1) Shadow Clones do NOT transfer physical effects onto the original

I don't even know where to start on this since its stupid to the point its almost self-explanatory. First of all, nowhere in Canon does it say that Shadow Clones doe that. Second, what happens if it did?

Naruto and a hundred of his Shadow Clones does one set of 100 push-ups. Bam! They dispel and then suddenly his body has to deal with him doing 10 000 push-ups in an instant! He would literally **explode** if that happened.

So yeah, no transferring things physical to the original. Too many problems there if Naruto gets the physical exhaustion along with the already strainous mental exhaustion.

2) A thousand nothing is still NOTHING! (Without proper instructions and guidance or dumb luck)

Just because Naruto can split himself into a thousand to train on something or learn something doesn't mean it takes a thousandth of the time to train in it. Frankly if Naruto doesn't know how to do something, he literally doesn't know how even with Shadow Clones.

Just like if he's capable of learning something in a year of training doesn't mean if he makes a thousand Shadow Clones to learn it, it takes a thousandth of the time to do so. Sure it may dramatically reduce the time he needs to learn something but the time difference in learning isn't _exact_ in how much time he saves with this method.

For all we know, he can literally still take half a year or the same time with or without using Shadow Clones because he's doing the same mistake over and over again without knowing. Hell it might be cause of other factors like his body not being suited to something.

God knows that Naruto in his current size will never be as effective with Zabuza's sword than Kakashi.

Therefore there's no point in Naruto actually trying to push his learning there and somehow managing to match someone with a much better build in the art of giant sword swinging.

Basically for any training using Shadow Clones to be effective, Naruto needs a reference on what to do or someone to tell him how. There may or may not be other factors at play here as well.

I did this, Naruto did fine enough but without it, it would take way longer or Naruto would never get to it or just goes a different path from what was intended.

3) Did I mention the mental stress and somehow not mental aging?

So whenever Naruto makes a Shadow Clone and gains its memories, he has overlapping memories on two things happening in the same time. Multiple this with the more Shadow Clones he makes.

Does no one...really not notice that he's actually mentally aging faster than this?

One Shadow Clone lives for an hour, dispels and Naruto gains an extra hour in his life. He ages mentally an hour thanks to this and don't tell me how much more he does when he makes hundreds or thousands of them when training for days.

So yeah, the mental stress comes along with this and actually helps in some form with the training since it kinds _blurs_ what happened all at once. While his head still gets shoved with the memories, he doesn't actually relive all of the hundreds or thousands of hours he did on one thing over and over again.

Basically I think _this_ is a self-protection instinct from his brain...or from the Kyubi to make sure Naruto doesn't end up brain-dead. For that kind of training to work he needs to basically cut off the useless bits immediately and retain what he needs.

2-3 chapters after this one, I'll explain some more on this.

4) Once again, more training does not mean more skilled, just more Experienced

So Naruto has 2 years on Sasuke with Shadow Clone Training. How doe the former not kick the latter's ass by now some may ask? Well simple, Shadow Clone gives experience in all but not skill though may account for the latter.

Experience does not mean more skilled.

And in this case skilled can also refer to as creative in use.

A genius may be able to use any Jutsu perfectly with short training. Does not mean he's experienced in using it.

A veteran may use the same Jutsu for decades. While experienced does not mean he's skilled in using it compared to the genius who can make up new ways of doing things.

Therefore Experience does **not** equal Skilled/Creative.

But then you need to account for a person's body, their speed and power. Their reaction time and how they react and so on. So many factors that experience and skill gets blurred together with other stuff that gives a person a win.

Basically the point I'm making here is that even if Naruto can perfect everything he learns, there would be someone else with a hell of less hours on the same thing he learnt that can probably do something Naruto didn't think of.

Frankly its kinda lazy to think that Naruto can just use... _anything_ more skilled and in more ways than anyone else because he used Shadow Clones to train and get all the experience he wants to in that area.

...

So yeah, that's it so far with my opinion on Shadow Clone Training. There's actually an explanation a short 2-3 chapters away where my interpretation goes off of what Canon states or rather doesn't state and I rather not spoil it yet.


	26. Chapter 25 - The Effects of Gato

**Chapter 25: The Effects of Gato**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Two more days passed and Sakura had proven how small her Chakra Reserves were mastering Tree-Climbing almost immediately. Naruto couldn't help but to roll his eyes at Kakashi sending her off to 'Guard' Tazuna to be lazy in not training her.

Not that he disagree with it at all but…

He had to send Shadow Clones to reassure Tazuna of his protection at least. And seeing that his rant apparently was more effective in proving how useless Sakura was to Tazuna, Shadow Clones wasn't going to cut it and he had to protect Tazuna muting the point that Sakura had to protect him leaving Naruto being on guard duty while Sakura slacks off and swoons at Sasuke.

Not that he needed it, since Naruto took Sasuke aside he was already starting on Tree-Climbing and was decently there already with some of Naruto's tips and hints. A bit more and Sasuke could actually be pretty good at Chakra Compression by the end of the week.

But currently Naruto needed to guard Tazuna…which meant putting up with his talking.

"So we're going to buy some grocery for my super-family. Make sure to protect the super-me" Tazuna said.

"Yep."

"The country is super-poor thanks to Gato and his goons stealing everything they like" Tazuna continued.

"Yeah."

"Plus they are super-violent and beat people up all the super-time."

"Good for them."

"So make sure that you super-brat don't go all hero like since Gato will send an army down on everyone if you do."

"Okay."

"But you have to make super-sure that I'm protected and if you super-want I can look away as you defend the innocent."

"Might as well."

Right now the original Naruto was quite bored since he had a good two dozen Shadow Clones scouting out the area around him.

He already knew where to guide Tazuna so he wouldn't meet any of Gato's men; not that he did in the first loop here. There were a total of 8 mercenaries that were terrorising the town which was a surprisingly low numbered compared to what Naruto expected.

He had already sent Shadow Clones to follow them to where Gato's base was. If he managed to take out Gato, then there would be a lot less headaches later on.

Plus right now he had little intentions of having a conversation with Tazuna on how badly Gato screwed them all over since Sakura did that last time and from what he saw, Tazuna was actually the most well off person in Wave after Gato…aside from the emotional damage he caused the family of course.

That would explain why the man would want to build a bridge for his country since he was the only one who had money to do so and he had that money since Gato made an example of his family already.

It was at that moment that Naruto felt someone trying to grab one of his pouches and scrolls that were hanging behind him.

'Too obvious and you did this to Sakura as well which means you really suck a lot in thieving' Naruto thought summoning a Shadow Clone quickly behind the man who was about to steal from him.

"Too slow" the Shadow Clone commented with a Kunai to the next of the perpetrator.

Both the original Naruto and the shocked Tazuna turned to the highly frightened man who froze at the risk of death.

"Wah…how…what?" the man stuttered out. It looked like he wasn't familiar with ninjas…like most of the civilians.

Basically rule number one for civilians in regarding ninjas. Don't piss them off or try to threaten them. Right now, Naruto was quite pissed that a person like this homeless guy tried to rob him and was considering killing him…

Except he was a civilian.

Ninjas don't kill civilians unless they had to. It was one of the laws that most Shinobi followed, except for the rule-breakers and bloodthirsty ones. Because of this he couldn't actually threaten the man with death…though he didn't need to know that.

Naruto despite being next to Tazuna heard the words his Shadow Clone whispered using his Chakra Enhancement on his ears.

"Never try to rob a ninja…you will not make a racket about this or tell Gato…not that you would anyway" the Shadow Clone whispered.

Naruto knew that this was a bit too harsh for a man who just wanted someone to eat by the end of the day…or week judging by his appearance.

As such, the man was literally let off with a light slap unlike with Sakura who injured the man intentionally when she thought he was groping her.

Well Naruto was a lot more understanding than Sakura. A man needed to eat after all, he knew what it felt like to starve…literally.

And without another word, Naruto guarded Tazuna who was still freaked out on how easily Naruto could kill a man if he wished.

* * *

Even after looking at it for a second time, the situation in wave was quite bad. Gato did a very good job in breaking the country into pieces from what it used to be in mere years. Before Gato, the Country of Wave seemed to be a small but balanced country with good trade for the larger countries.

Now, it was a broken place with a broken economic, broken people and broken land.

You see, due to the fact that Mizu is still in civil war, most water trade routes were damaged and made mote to be. With two major Nations, Fire and Lightning as well as the Lands of River and Frost cutting off any and all contact with the bloodied Nation; Mizu had no reason to trade with them.

Especially when many of their people wanted out and they didn't want to let go.

As such most of the water trade routes to that side of the world was cut off rather quickly resulting in one Country of Wave taking claim to some of the benefits.

Whatever was left of the water trade route was sucked up into the Wave Country making it wealthy but at the same time the Country unfortunately didn't have a military.

It was surprising to Naruto on that how the country wasn't placed under the control of another before Gato.

Need to be, Gato was the first to notice this with his own organisation specialising in water trade routes and he quickly took over the country using violence, death and choking the economy into countless pieces. No, that wasn't all that Gato did to the country.

Gato made Wave his centre of power. The centre of his new Empire.

To some parts of the Country, Gato had stored away many supplies, supplies that Naruto's clones eventually found out about. Lots and lots of different supplies from common to rare to outright illegal to own.

Of course Gato took the farmlands that Wave had and slowly continued to build up his Empire's food supply before he had his big move. Next Gato modified and created many other different types of farms…the types that grow illegal plants that would sell a LOT of money in the right places.

But as a result, the flumes and waste that came with processing such illegal materials made part of the water in the Wave Country to be poisonous else had certain effects similar to taking the drug itself over a long period of time. Most of the Wave Country was actually suffering from withdrawals thanks to this.

Yeah, that was one unintentional way Gato managed to screw over Wave.

Gato of course making this country his main base moved his headquarters here as well. It was a small fortress on the opposite side of the country away from the town and not only housed his men but also his ships as well.

There were easily three dozen small boats, a dozen medium ships and three large ships for all kinds of transport and cargo.

Despite everything, Gato actually knew how to manage his empire and made it so he was the sole powerhouse in Water Trading and the fact that he now held the monopoly of that in Wave meant he kept the people of Wave from ever escaping…until now.

Then there were the many mercenaries that Gato hired in order to keep his empire stable…as stable as you could with most of your employees the lowest scum most people have seen.

Naruto had to admit that Gato was pretty ingenious to manage to hire several groups that were on bad terms to each other and made them keep an eye out for traitors in the other camp.

Plus it did help Gato a fair bit that said mercenaries would often terrorise the town on their own even without his orders. That kept the spirits of the people down a lot, though it didn't ever pummel more than that Kaizo guy was executed in front of everyone for standing up for himself and others.

Because of all of this, Gato was a major powerhouse in Wave with enough minions from mercenaries to missing-nin that would take more than a few Jonins to get rid of his operations, the people of Wave were kicked down and depressed through various reasons including being beaten, robbed and even suffering from withdrawals due to Gato and finally because their lives sucked and they suffered a lot even without trying.

Gods know what Gato does for those who actually dare oppose him.

There was a good reason that Tazuna hired a team to protect him despite having to lie about it due to the high costs that he could not cover. If he didn't, Tazuna was a dead man along with his family and the rest of Wave.

Naruto groaned at the metaphorical and literal pitfall that Tazuna was in right now. Even if he did complete the bridge, with Gato still alive and working against him, said bridge would eventually be destroyed and things would be even worse for Wave.

Gato really needed to die.

Unfortunately Kakashi was needed against Zabuza and both he and Haku would be in that headquarters that Gato set up with the former recovering.

That meant that in order to end this before said battle between two A-rank elite Ninjas battle it out, he needed to sneak into what seemed to be a fortress guarded by many people including some missing-nin up to the strength of Zabuza and kill a man that was smart enough to nearly break a country and reforge it into his empire.

Yeah, that task was practically impossible for Naruto right now.

Unlike back in Konoha, this would be a LOT more difficult if he even tried. First point was that Naruto did not know the exact layout of the fortress Gato was living in, second point was that he did not know the strength of the enemy and third was that the enemy would rather go out and kill him rather than capture which admittedly made escaping ANBU a lot easier since they specialise more in killing than capturing.

All of this means there is a low chance of actually taking out Gato and Naruto did not want to exploit his Loops to find out if he could. It was much easier to just draw Gato out than to come to him to assassinate him.

And to do that, he would need to master those moves Kakashi taught him in the First Loop at Wave.

* * *

Breathing in and out, Naruto concentrated on processing the memories from his Shadow Clones.

He had found that to most effectively gain the experience from them, he should fully concentrate on recalling the memory and feeling that came with it.

However even with this, it didn't compare to first-hand experience.

Naruto had a good gasp with Chakra Compression now and was moving onto Chakra Cycling. However even with Shadow Clones, Naruto wasn't making that much process.

And then he realised that his actually body hadn't experienced the effects of Chakra Cycling at all making any Shadow Clones he made to have that same disadvantage making it a cycle of no progress.

It was like building up a muscle with Shadow Clones. He might experience the pain and hardships but there would still be no effect in the end on his body. His Chakra Coils needed to be used to being used in that way though strangely enough it was both a physical and mental thing.

He would more research on the reason why that is later.

But right now, back to concentrating on sorting through the memories of a hundred Shadow Clones using and screwing up Chakra Cycling. That wasn't a painless experience to 'die' in that manner even for Naruto.

It was only due to Naruto actively using Chakra Compression properly without his Chakra screwing up that badly with the needed Chakra Control that he made progress even when going back in the Loop.

Therefore, Naruto was _very_ carefully using the Shadow Clone memories to guide him to slowly get used to the effects of Chakra Cycling. And by using those memories, Naruto would experiment on his particular technique and what effects it has and how to minimise the potential damage on his person.

He didn't even _want_ to touch Chakra Folding until he mastered Chakra Compression and Chakra Cycling. That was a recipe of disaster to be waiting there; for him to _amplify_ his Jutsus was overkill even when he only folded it one using a Shadow Clone as a test dummy.

The explosion was quite large.

Rustle.

"What is it Sasuke?" Naruto sighed.

It was currently the fourth day of training on the Loop. There was still another three more days until the battle with Zabuza and Naruto found it strange that Sasuke was _not_ training.

"I've mastered Tree-Climbing" he declared with a smirk.

Naruto widened his eyes slightly to this, last time it took him 5 days not 4. Perhaps the motivation that Naruto was the one teaching him of all people helped encourage him to train faster.

"That means you wish to learn more about Chakra Compression at least? Why don't you ask Kakashi-sensei at least? He knows more than me" Naruto replied while Sasuke scoffed.

"Kakashi-sensei is a lazy ass teacher and we both know it."

Naruto quirked his eye, "Maybe you're not asking the right questions…nor you have the references you need to know what he talked about back in Konoha. It took me waaay too long to even try to learn the Body Flicker Jutsu under him."

Naruto made sure to tell Kakashi that he already knew the Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu and Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu and was still starting off with the Body Flicker Jutsu and needed some tips.

Said tips involved a stupidly large number of Shadow Clones to _learn_ how to use it better. Never-mind that Naruto's problem was using _too_ much Chakra and was thus speeding up too much to even tell where he was moving.

However the mass amount of Shadow Clones did help Naruto refine the Body Flicker Jutsu in record time that he was passable in its use. He was never going to use it in battle for a while until he had much much better control but it was good enough for slow travel (For Ninjas anyway).

Sasuke scowled and added, "He told me that Chakra Compression was something out of my league right now."

Naruto raised an eyebrow to this. Sure Kakashi only started to teach them near the end of the training but did actually asking him to teach it result in no training for that area?

He was sure Kakashi knew of his training in Chakra Compression at least…though it was more likely that Sasuke's attitude put Kakashi off any thoughts on actually teaching him.

With a sigh, Naruto figured he could guide Sasuke in Chakra Compression at least and from there on, if he looped again, he wouldn't tell Sasuke about it so Kakashi may want to teach him that.

* * *

It was on the seventh day that Naruto prepared himself for when Inari ranted.

That is, to make sure he didn't almost kill the poor kid again with pure killing intent coming from his body. It took Kakashi to supress the effects from the rest of the family as well as Inari fainted from fear alone.

Inari naturally avoided him after that which saddened Naruto a bit.

(Though internally he was more than happy to have learnt a way to shut the civilians up back at Konoha at least)

Naruto sighed in annoyance of the need to prepare for battles which he had no idea what was going on most of the time.

The Zabuza and Kakashi fight could go either way and Naruto wasn't as concern about that as the other battle where apparently someone would come to take Tsunami and Inari and possibly kill one or both of them.

Rubbing his forehead back at the woods where his Shadow Clones were doing some last minute maintenance on all the Jutsus he could use, Naruto was searching through his most recently memories and some older ones on what he could do.

On one hand it was easy for him to just charge in like a stupid fool and hope for the best.

But on the other hand he could actually take the time to prepare and plan out what he could and will do.

Thinking about these things were more Shikimaru's area of expertise but Naruto wasn't too bad with his years of pranking backing him up.

But…pranking has nothing to do with plans that involve the lives of others and when failed will result in something worse than death for the Country of Waves.

So far he had lots and lots of traps around Tazuna's home which meant that as long as they stay in there, which they should, it would be difficult for any common ninja to get through.

Not to mention he was started to place together some traps around the bridge as well though that was a work in progress especially since he needed to find a way to make explosive tags work underwater.

At least with Tazuna's home, he knew not many could get through let alone unharmed.

'But if they do…' Naruto grimaced, 'That would mean they were extremely skilled, he lacked the skills or someone ratted them out and backstabbed them.'

He really doubted Tsunami or even Inari would do so and he sure as hell didn't want to think anyone in his team would do so. But…it was good to have back-up after back-up plans just in case.

Those 'Keys' he made for the team and the family were a weakness he could not simply remove and while he was highly tempted to just make them never leave the home until the mission is done, it was likely that the kid Inari would just run out without thinking an get killed.

Because of that, there is a clear weakness in his traps. Naruto could only hope things will not go bad.

* * *

The next day on the bridge Naruto stood next to his team which he almost trusted completely.

He had sent at least a dozen Shadow Clones to hide around Tsunami and Inari to protect them which could be overkill in some circumstances but he had the Chakra to spare.

At least he wanted to make sure they live through this.

Cue the fight where Sasuke got rid of Zabuza's Water Clones at once and where Haku and Sasuke were doing a Taijutsu dance against each other.

"I got you!" Sasuke declared with his Kunai pointing at Haku forcing the latter to block with three Sebons in between his knuckles.

Now was at the part where Haku would attack using that Jutsu and Naruto could come into the battle.

Or rather the part where he didn't make a mistake and not charge in to save Sasuke when he was fine.

"Really?" she asked tilting her head, "Right now you are lacking one hand to attack like myself. You cannot use any Jutsus in your current state while I can!"

Haku started to flick through hand-seals with one hand rapidly. All three males in Team 7 widened their eyes rapidly seeing this, even Naruto who saw this before.

Naruto had tried out One Hand-Seals for Jutsu but it was extremely difficult to even try and Naruto never succeeded so far.

"Teme! Get out of there!" Naruto shouted while NOT moving in to attack.

Kakashi was glaring at Zabuza who was doing the same with a smug look since if Kakashi moved, Zabuza did and vis versa which meant that only Naruto get into the fight.

Haku called out, "Water Style: Thousand Flying Needles of Death!" while slamming her foot down on the wet ground.

Water splashed and strangely floated up in the air before a split second later turning into countless needles of death around the two.

Sasuke had already disengaged and moved out a moment before Haku did but the latter was much faster than Sasuke managing to kick him before retreating from the Jutsu's range.

'Huh' Naruto looked curiously, 'Haku didn't do that before. Must be because she didn't need to guard against a second person.'

Naruto watched as Sasuke tumbled before rolling back on his feet as he saw Haku dash in.

He flicked through several hand-sealed and shouted out, "Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" shooting out a rapid fire of small fireballs that forced to dodge by flipping back as each fireball hit the ground one after another forcing Haku away.

"You're pretty slow" Sasuke commented behind Haku the moment she stopped and her attention wavered a bit, "From now on, you will only be able to run from my attacks."

Sasuke moved in with two Kunai in hands before striking with his right which Haku blocked but at the next moment he flicked the Kunai at Haku forcing her to duck down to dodge which in turn led to Sasuke kicking her in the face.

Thump!

"Gu…!" Haku let out a grunt while Naruto smirked at Zabuza's expression. He seemed shocked that Sasuke was faster than Haku, at least temporary. Naruto knew that Sasuke was extremely talented in using his Chakra to boost his speed in particular.

"Looks like I have the advantage in speed" Sasuke had a smug look on his face as Sakura cheered aimlessly while everybody ignored her.

Almost lazily even to Naruto's eyes even though he knew it not be true Kakashi stated out, "I can't have you underestimate my team calling them 'brats'. Sasuke is the Leaf's Number 1 Rookie, Sakura is the Brightest of her class and Naruto is the Number 1 most unpredictable Ninja and someone I can trust my back to."

Naruto's mood improved when Kakashi said that.

Not the part where he was the number 1 unpredictable ninja but rather how Kakashi could trust his back to him. That meant he trusted him enough to fight alongside him and also to protect him.

Kakashi …accepted him in that moment from there on and Naruto had no intentions of disappointing him or any other precious people he had.

However things turned out _really_ bad when Zabuza started to laugh out loud and barked out, "Haku! Don't hold back. Since Kakashi says they're good enough, don't hold back and kill them all and this time don't you dare spare them. We won't want some loose ends. At this rate we'll be driven back."

"Yeah…we can't have that" Haku responded in monotone, devoid of all emotions.

There was a slight pause from Haku but in the end he nodded and Chakra seemed to come out of his body like steam…but cold.

Naruto shivered for a before covering his body in Chakra in response not only to get some heat but also to intimidate Haku a bit.

Seeing the sudden seriousness of the battle, Kakashi went to stop any possible attack that would come out of the masked boy as fast as he could.

"I won't let you!" Kakashi dashed at speeds that most Jonin wouldn't be able to keep up with.

However Zabuza was one of those people who could and immediately moved to block Kakashi while taunting him.

Sending out a wave of killing intent, Zabuza declared, "I'm your opponent!"

"Prepare for a hard fight everyone" Sasuke warned them before going back to his stance note even letting his eyes leave Haku.

Sasuke at that moment retreated back to where Naruto and Sakura were and the latter also seemed to notice the seriousness of the battle now and took out a Kunai. Tazuna stood there shivering at the power that was being thrown around.

Naruto on the other hand was gathering Chakra to either use a Jutsu or simple boost his speed and power. He really wished he tested whether the Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu worked on the bridge.

Making a single unique Hand-Seal, one Naruto noticed to be the standard Ram Hand-Seal but with the index fingers bent under the middle fingers. And at that moment, faster than any Genin in Team 7 could react, water climbed up and formed a cocoon of mirrors surrounding them on all sides.

"Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors!"

By then, the Jutsu was completed and they were trapped in columns of ice mirrors as Haku seemed to…merge into a mirror before his flat reflection was reflected on every single mirror around them.

"Huh?" Sakura startled looked confused on all of this while Naruto and Sasuke were the same even if they did not express it outwardly.

With all the resources in the Genin section of the Konoha Library, Naruto haven't even _heard_ of an 'Ice Style'.

Naruto suddenly felt like he should've left some Shadow Clones to follow them before heading on the bridge. Yeah, that would've been a good idea to set up an ambush as well.

Feeling he Chakra in the air that was slowly being frozen Naruto took a glance at Sasuke and muttered, "Teme, this is really bad."

"I know dobe" Sasuke grunted.

Sakura shivered under the cold.

It was at that moment after Haku took a look at them that she warned them, "Well then, shall I begin?"

'What do these mirrors do? What purpose do they have? Damn! I don't know' Naruto thought rapidly as Haku's next words were utterly terrifying in that they held no emotions, no remorse and no hesitation at all.

"I'll show you my real speed as the last thing you'll see."

Every last image of Haku took a stance inside the mirrors with a long Senbon at hand. It started off with Sasuke's arm being cut…

"Ah!"

"KYAAA!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And in the end every last one of them were cut, cut, cut by countless strikes they couldn't see, couldn't even respond to as they all cried out in pain. The pain only compounded with more pain as more cuts went into their wounds and made them bigger and cause more pain.

The pain ended as Tazuna died first and Naruto was thrown back to earlier in the loop.

 _Checkpoint 4: Loop 2 End (Total Loops 60)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

The second half of the chapter is when Haku actually manages to trap the Genin of Team 7 and Tazuna in his Jutsu. Basically it means the death of Tazuna and maybe Sakura if that ever happened.

It as just luck (Else my hand) that drove Sasuke to retreat at that location. Meh, it gives Naruto a reason to try to find a counter to the Ice Style.

But to something I wanted to talk about for some while.

Economy in the Ninja world.

Even in our world, money is a funny thing since it _technically_ doesn't have any value onto it except to how much _we_ value it and how much the _community_ values it so even if one person says its useless there are countless others that says the opposite.

Currency from different countries makes this even more complicated.

But in the Naruto World, the currency is the Ryo which seems to be standardised which makes things a lot less complicated and a lot more simple to manage for everyone involved with trade.

But did I managed of how fucked up the Economy of the Shinobi World was?

Well it simple is on too many levels.

First thing first are the Daimyos who represent each Nation or Country in the Naruto world.

They are basically the Kings to a Knight Order.

While the Ninjas don't really need to follow the orders of said Daimyos since they're ninjas, have Chakra, can kill people in their sleep dangerous, the Daimyo has more power than Ninjas in one way.

The Daimyo controls the Economy of their own and can cut off fundings and even missions from the Hidden Village.

Look at what happened to Suna with their own Daimyo doing what he wanted and not to be benefit of the Village Hidden in the Sands. The place was so desperate that they went to _Orchimaru_ of all people to get the funding and resources to sustain themselves.

Basically if your Daimyo disagrees than you need to compile no matter what unless you want your village to whither away without support.

However it isn't a simple Daimyo playing this game. **5 Major Daimyos** and many smaller ones are playing the same game at the same time. What game is this?

The game of politics.

The game that also spans into war and also the economy as its forefront after words.

Basically when one Daimyo wants to crush another, they tend to use Ninjas to do so. If the other side has Ninjas, and knowing the destruction and time consumption there, they move onto the Economy.

Basically cutting off the other side with certain resources as they can pressuring them into what they want.

If that doesn't work, they go to war over it dragging the Ninjas into it which also makes the Economy even worse in areas affected since you have trained and hidden killers running around killing everything not allied including civilians and traders.

To sum it up, the Daimyo can control the flow of money between countries and have little to no intentions of using it unless it benefits them only.

As you can see, we have a problem here with a dozen at best people controlling the entire economy of the world.

Don't worry, there are actual businesses that keep them in check to a certain extent...and Canon only showed as one example as Gato.

Joy.

As we can see _no_ distinct major business in the Elemental Continents other than Gato who was killed, we can say that most businesses are rather small and only span in one country or nation at best and maybe spread out across one of the larger Nations with a Hidden Village.

While keeping the Economy in each country rather stable, they do nothing to stop the Daimyos that control the flow of money and the Economy on their whim from wrecking it.

But then there are actual traders that travel from place to place and even across borders!

Yeah...remember what happens in Ninja conflicts. Lots and LOTS of collateral damage including said Traders most of the time who happened to be on a route to place to place which also is the way most supplies that Ninjas use are transferred.

In a nutshell the Traders are killed not wanting to know whether they are Supply Forces disguised as Traders to the enemy or said Supply Routes are destroyed outright to reduce the enemy's efficiency making it even harder for Traders to travel around.

In conclusion while there are Traders, they are generally rarer than most profession especially during war.

But certainly there is _someone_ else that keep the Economy being whacked?!

Let's talk about the bottom of the totem that represents how much wealth a person has. The bottom that is naturally the common civilian and in other words the farmers and so on that maintain the rest of the world with their work as little gears in the giant machine.

They are frankly poor and rarely does one actually interact with a Ninja except if they're near one of the Hidden Villages.

You can think of them as those who are the ones actually generating the money that everyone else is using to play around with and throw around and in general they are not paid well.

The real ironic thing is that Ninjas actually pay more than other civilians for their product. D-rank missions, hell even C-rank missions are expensive to most civilians but those in Hidden Villages somehow managed to get enough money to once and a while hire green Genin to do their jobs.

Yeah, civilians at the lowest point can't do anything as well.

But then there are _NINJAS_.

Yep, no.

That's a really bad idea in general.

For starters since Ninjas are _literally_ an armed force being paid to do things. And said things while mean helping out or guarding things or people in the lower and sometimes the higher ranks, there is one problem.

They also get missions the _complete_ opposite to the other missions. One set of Ninjas from one village may be hired to protect a place. Another from another Village may be hired to destroy said place.

Both sides battle it out.

If the defenders win, employer pays Ninjas and its all good except to the attackers who won't be paid and are most likely dead with a pissed off client who wants their money back else another team to complete the mission.

If the attackers win, the employer pays Ninjas and its all good except to the defenders who are most likely dead and the client who is also most likely died and with the place destroyed...and if the client survives than they usually want revenge.

See where this is going?

Both sides keeps on hiring giving Ninjas more money to use with the destruction of said civilian place that produces stuff. Ninjas use this money to buy more supplies...from guess where? Said civilian places that produces stuff for them which means there is _less_ of what they want and need than before and the price increases for their supplies.

That means they need more missions and guess what usually happens. More and more civilian locations are destroyed than what are being created and more and more Ninjas need more money and missions to sustain themselves since the prices are increasing.

And when this happens, Ninjas need more supplies from places which are from civilian places, which means they need more missions and said missions overall was likely to destroy civilian places that in turn increases the price of supplies.

And this keep on rotating and rotating out of control until full out war happens or someone like the Daiymo takes control and sort things out.

Basically adding Ninjas into the mix of the Economy is generally a bad idea unless you can keep it in check.

 _Especially since using them in such a way would disturb the economy really badly._

So to sum things up here we have the common civilian who are the producer of resources that sustains everyone else. We have business that take these resources and turn into profit for each country/nation. We have traders that travel from country/nation to country/nation to make profit and also stimulate the economy. And finally we have the Daiymos who control things on a national level.

Seems perfectly fine right?

Yeah, then add in Ninjas.

As have Ninjas that both help out civilians in protecting them and destroying them making what used to be reliable resource makers to depend on how well you protect them. We have businesses that can also be literally protected or destroyed thanks to Ninjas as well making it worse.

We have Traders that are _also_ the same situation.

And finally we have Ninjas being _under_ the Daiymo since he also controls their funding as well through what missions they generally get over other villages and other tasks.

And _how_ does said Daimyo makes sure they have the upper hand against other Daiymos and the places they lead? Sabotage _their enemies_ and what they have so they are on top in the end.

Which pretty much goes from either stalemate in the Economy or Recessions quite frequently now that I think about it.

In all, I can easily say that adding Ninjas into the game of Economy is a _very_ bad idea in general.

And that is why the Economy in the Shinobi World is fucked up.

...

...

Also note that it will take a lot longer to post more chapters since I'm still writing them out. This may takes weeks or months since I like to do things like post chapters in sets...else I could be lazy and post when I finish one.


	27. Chapter 26 - Elemental Jutsus

**Chapter 26: Elemental Jutsus**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto in a nutshell was worried about this mission.

Aside from the fact that he needed to protect a set of civilians no matter what, possibly bring a country out of the hands of a tyrant and face off Haku who apparently had the ability to use Ice Ninjutsu; Naruto had a lot to prepare for.

But the guise of things on one perspective is that Naruto needed to get stronger. However the truth is that he needed 'Time' to get stronger which being stuck in a Time Loop doesn't help. His Chakra may grow as large as it can but in the end he is limited to what his _physical_ body could handle.

Therefor Naruto needed other tools to use in order to counter what he has to face.

He counted off the things he needed to keep track up, 'Unknown enemy wanting to kidnap/kill Tazuna's family, mercenaries Gato hired, other possible enemy ninjas, Zabuza and Haku…god this list better not get longer. I can't keep track of all of this and protect everyone!'

While it was highly difficult, Naruto could see a way to help Wave enough and make sure at least most of the innocent people in this country are saved.

But to do that he still needed a way to beat Haku and maybe Zabuza if Kakashi loses to him.

Moving on after that problem, Naruto needed a way to take away the control Gato has over the country. Making a big ass bridge was one thing but it was completely another if Gato just destroys it or even take over it and use it to make more of a profit with tariff.

This meant that Gato needed to really die since Naruto couldn't see a way on making sure Gato didn't have revenge on Wave or himself later on down the line. Naruto shook his head because he was actually thinking of an assassination on a multi-billionaire who lives in a fortress with countless guards around and possible ninjas as well.

Though Naruto was mentally 2 years older than his peers now, it was still sad for a 14 year old (Even mentally) to think about these things…or was it expected since at that age a Ninja has enough experience to be a Chunin at least.

But his body was still of a 12 year old and it would take him a lot of work to get it up to Chunin levels physically without Chakra boosting his specs. He was just starting to hit puberty and thanks to the proper food other than the occasional god-like Ramen, he was no longer the shortest male that came out of his Academy class.

But that didn't change that Naruto had no real strength aside from spamming Shadow Clones.

For all its worth, such tactics may have worked against the average ninja, against the skilled it was pretty useless especially those like Haku who had speed and even had weapons that could quickly hit you faster than you could think.

Basically Haku was ironically the bane of his Shadow Clones.

Naruto wanted to start learning more Elemental Jutsus to counter this weakness that the current Naruto has. There were several ways Naruto could see how he could possibly counter Haku. The first was simply to take her out of the equation altogether, but that was impossible and he didn't want to _assassinate_ someone he could consider a half-friend.

With second of course was with Fuinjutsu but that would take _years_ ' worth of Looping to get to a good level to counter a most likely Bloodline she processed. From there Naruto moved onto the next most feasible option.

Ninjutsu.

Elemental Ninjutsu.

He currently only had two under his belt and both of them were more designed towards enemies that were slower than him. The Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu was a useful one to travel underground but when he hit rock…or even harder the control needed for the Jutsu shot up several times. That was the reason why Naruto couldn't use it on the bridge, he lacked the control to do it outside of battle which meant in no way he was going to be able to use it in battle.

Then there was the Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation Jutsu which was useful in trapping people with the exception of those who were good at using Lightning Chakra to conduct it around their body to break the Jutsu.

While possibly useful against other enemies especially with Shadow Clones to the point he may drag an entire army into the ground (That is, if they're not chakra sensitive which most Ninjas are), it was not at all useful against Haku.

Not that he was blaming Kakashi for it.

Those two Jutsus are _useful_ to have but it won't win him the current fight. Which meant that he needed more Jutsus to use and combine with his ability to send out waves of Shadow Clones. _And_ Naruto knew which two Jutsus he wanted to learn from Kakashi, else Sasuke.

Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu.

Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu.

These two Jutsus are counters to Haku's Ice Style Jutsus though is effectiveness would be admittedly reduced thanks to the mist and the water that's all around them during the battle. Plus it would be good time to actually start practising those methods to improve his Fire Affinity that he copied from the Konoha Library and got off Sasuke that time back.

Taking a scroll from his side, Naruto unsealed it and took out a further two more scrolls on the matters involving Fire Jutsu and started to read them.

 _The Fire Style or Fire Release is one of the basic elemental nature transformations (Read Nature Transformation for Beginners)._

Naruto stopped there, "Huh, might as well read that first just in case then" he muttered before taking out the scroll describing Nature Transformation and Elemental Affinity which he also copied from the Konoha Library.

 _Nature Transformation is an advanced Chakra Control that entrails the molding and defining of one's Chakra into an innate kind of Chakra Nature, altering its properties and characteristics for use in Jutsus. This along with Shape Transformation (Read Shape Transformation for Beginners)-_

"Drat, another thing I have to read" Naruto sighed. He didn't have anything about Shape Transformation since he didn't even know it existed! He placed that into the mental pile to remember to look up later on.

 _-are the two necessary components for creating or modifying a Jutsu._

"Okay it relates to stuff that sounds like a good future project at least."

 _The Five Element Nature Transformations are the most fundamental Chakra Natures, which are the foundations of all elemental Ninjutsus. They are vital to the point that each of the Five Shinobi Nations are named after them as well due to a high ratio of Shinobi in each Village having an affinity to those Elements._

 _The standard relationship between each Element can be summed up as following._

 _Fire is strong against Wind but weak against Water._

 _Wind is strong against Lightning but weak against Fire._

 _Lightning is strong against Earth but weak against Wind._

 _Earth is strong against Water but weak against Lightning._

 _Water is strong against Fire but weak against Earth._

 _However just because one Element is inheritably stronger than another, it does not mean that a Jutsu that is by nature is weaker than another Jutsu cannot overcome them. Basically if an Elemental Jutsu is put up with another Elemental Jutsu of the same level, the one with a stronger Nature will win else with they are neutral to each other they will stalemate._

 _Furthermore there are several key conditions in which an Elemetal Jutsu that is by Nature is weaker than another can win. The First is simply that the Jutsu in question has more power, mostly due to more Chakra being pumped into the Jutsu. In cases like these, say a Fire and Water Jutsu clashing, if the Fire Jutsu is strong enough, the Water Jutsu will be defeated and turn into Steam as a side effect._

 _Another Condition could be that a Jutsu would be boosted in power by another Jutsu so that it is of a higher level with a complimentary Element. An example of this is with a Fire Jutsu being boosted in power by a Wind Jutsu. This method will often provide effects that are more powerful than simply using two Jutsus of the same Element._

 _Finally, the last condition would be the battlefield itself. Elemental Jutsus are affected by the environments they are used in and due to this, Water Jutsus are difficult to use in a Desert, Fire Jutsus are weakened in places with mist and moist and so on. Given the effects of this, unless the user is prepared to use a higher degree of Chakra to use said Jutsus even in such environments, said Jutsus will often weaken else strengthened._

 _A similar principle will also apply to the first condition of Jutsus of the same power and level to Jutsus of the same Element. In the case where two Jutsus of the same Element and power clash, they will cancel each other out. However if two Jutsus are of different power levels, the weaker one will not only lose but will also be consumed by the stronger Jutsu and become more powerful._

 _This effect is similar to the environmental effect on Jutsus where said Jutsus have more materials to use and thus cost less Chakra to activate, but since the Jutsu is in place with an already amount of Chakra consumed, the Jutsu can only grow stronger when the costs of the Jutsu is once again decreased thanks to the opposing and weaker Jutsu._

 _However please note that there are some exception to this regardless of how much Chakra and power you place in a Jutsu. There are some Jutsus and otherwise stated that are absolute in the hierarchy of an Element. The only confirmed example to Konoha would be the Uchiha Clan's secret Jutsu: Amaterasu that will consume lesser flame easily even if it's a fraction of the power of the other._

'Huh, Sasuke's Clan has such a thing?' Naruto then remembered Itachi and how he was still alive and most likely had this kind of Jutsu under his belt and shuddered. He would need to think of a way to counter that.

However right now Naruto moved onto the Affinity side of Nature Transformation.

 _Elemental Affinity or Nature Affinity is the term for the Elemental Nature Transformation that each person is most in tune to. In general, every person's Chakra has an affinity to one of the Five Basic Nature Transformations. An Affinity can at times be genetic (In the case of Bloodline Limits), or at least common to a particular family where each member inherited a trait towards one Affinity._

 _In order to find one's Elemental Affinity, they must use one of several methods that are sensitive enough to Chakra that they affect such objects in relation to each Element. Chakra Paper is the most common practise and the cheapest among methods. Below are the results of each Elemental Affinity._

 _Fire: The Paper will ignite and turn to Ash._

 _Wind: The Paper will split in two._

 _Lightning: The Paper will wrinkle._

 _Earth: The Paper will turn to dirt and crumble away._

 _Water: The Paper will be wet and damp._

 _While normally a Ninja may have one Nature Affinity, there are cases where they have more than one. Such examples often involve Bloodline Limits in which a person may have two Elements to combine into a new one. However there are those rare enough to have two Nature Affinity at the same time and even rarer to have three at the beginning._

 _Much research have shown those with the rare multiple Nature Affinity often have defects or irregularity in one area or another due to the clashing compatibility between Chakra Natures where one Chakra Nature in the body may attempt to consume another weaker Chakra Nature to it. The only exception to this are with Bloodline Limits which can perfectly balance and combine Elemental Chakra perfectly and if said Nature Affinities are neutral to each other. Due to NO Bloodline Limit associating with three Elements at once exist naturally, those with Three Nature Affinities while rare, even rarer live a long life due to this imbalance in the natural state of their Affinities._

 _Please note that if you have mastered another Element other than your Nature Affinity, it will NOT show up on the Chakra Paper when testing. While any other Element may be brought up to the same level as your Nature Affinity, your Chakra will ALWAYS be in tune with your Nature Affinity over any other Chakra Nature Affinity._

 _Training your Nature Affinity can occur in two or more stages in which you gradually use your Chakra transformed into Nature Chakra of your choice to achieve certain tasks on higher and higher levels of power._

 _It is possible to train up all Five Elemental Nature Affinity but for each succussive Element trained, the time and difficulty on training the next will increase while the Nature Affinity that is stronger than your own Nature Affinity will always be the hardest to train._

Processing all off this…Naruto basically summed it up that ninjas can turn their chakra to use in Jutsus and the better they are in doing so, the stronger their Jutsus will be. Then there's that stuff with Nature Affinities which Naruto summed up as you have one, maybe two and those are the best elements you can use.

Yeah…so in the end Naruto learnt more about Nature Transformation and how they worked but not how to train them.

Damn.

Hopefully the scroll Sasuke gave him had some ideas on how to train his Fire Affinity at least. He probably needed to use a lot of power to counter Haku's ice from how quickly it formed and how easily as well.

 _The Fire Style or Fire Release is one of the basic elemental nature transformations (Read Nature Transformation for Beginners). It is performed by molding superheated Chakra inside the stomach before releasing it via the lungs and mouth._

 _Fire Jutsus work in the manner of Fire Chakra being converted into a catalyse in the stomach that is laced with Chakra to prevent harm from coming to the user when performing the Jutsu, in one breath this converted catalyse made from Fire Chakra is pushed forward out of the mouth at the same time as the air in the lungs which is the fuel for the Jutsu. Both aspects will interact with each other in the throat before turning into flames that depending on the Jutsu will automatically form by the time the flames reach the mouth where the user is able to adjust the output and shape of the coming out of the body._

 _While there are some Fire Jutsus that allow for the manipulation of Fire outside the body, they are uncommon and even rarer to use let alone use. There are also variants to this in the form of some mediums such as the use of gun powder, ash, explosive tags and chakra flow into a weapon. However it remains that using such methods in accordance to the nature of Fire Chakra will corrode the medium used whether quickly or with time and use._

 _The Fire Style is commonly affiliated with the Tiger Hand-Seal in which causes the Chakra to expand rapidly in its use allowing for the majority of Fire Jutsus to be combustive and highly explosive in nature._

 _In order to train your Fire Affinity, there are several methods you could use. The first is the standard 'Leaf Exercise' in that you are to recreate the effects of an Element on Chakra Paper onto a single Leaf. The faster you achieve this effect, the faster you are able to convert your Chakra into a Nature Chakra Type. After completion, you are to move onto larger and more fire resistance items._

 _The second method is much stranger and more difficult to gasp in that you are required to go to a location with a high amount of Fire Chakra naturally in the environment such as a Volcano. Upon there, you are to tune your Chakra to the Fire Chakra to take up its nature. Be warned that it is ill advised to use this method if your Nature Affinity is not Fire and especially if your Nature Affinity is not neutral to Fire._

The scroll continued on with how to use Fire Jutsus properly and how to see signs on how to improve them, how to coat your Chakra in places the Jutsu takes place to not take damage, what methods there are to 'change' the different types of form a Fire Jutsu may have.

Apparently most Fire Jutsus can be used in two ways.

Compressed damage or wide-spread damage.

Naruto had seen Sasuke use both the Grand Fireball Jutsu and Phoenix Fire Jutsu but didn't know there were different forms to them. The Grand Fireball Jutsu may be compressed into a raging ball of fire for maximum damage but can also be used in a wide-spread blast of fire like a flamethrower.

Meanwhile the Phoenix Fire Jutsu could be used to shoot multiple shots at the same time but it could also be used to rapidly spit out Fireballs in a linear fashion like a torrent. Doing so would increase its power over a single target enemy if you could hit them that many times.

Hell there were probably other methods on using said Jutsus that Naruto was not aware of.

But first he needed to a) Learn said Jutsus and b) Train his Fire Affinity to make it stronger.

By that point, Naruto already realised it was night and that Kakashi would be awake the next day for Naruto bother else he would need to get Sasuke with some well-placed bribes to get stronger as an exchange.

* * *

"You want to learn _what_?!" Sasuke almost believed that his ears weren't working properly for a moment.

Naruto sighed and wondered if this was the reaction that Sasuke had every time someone asked him to learn a couple of C-rank Jutsus from him that he had used in a previous battle.

"I want to learn the Grand Fireball Jutsu and Phoenix Fire Jutsu" Naruto repeated though this time a bit slower for Sasuke's sake at least. That amount of inbreeding in his clan apparently had its effects on his mind if he couldn't comprehend this.

But then again, the Uchiha Clan might have regulated marriages to prevent this, he didn't know the working of a clan as large as that.

" _Why_?!" Sasuke asked again causing Naruto to be a bit disappointed in him though it was completely understandable. Surely the great Uchiha would know…

Well he was still stuck as a 12 year old avenger compared to Naruto who was mentally 14 years old now and had a hell lot more experience than Sasuke in fighting strong foes such as Zabuza. Scratching the back of his head Naruto merely grinned before pausing and putting on a serious expression.

"Because I need something more than just Shadow Clones and what else I currently have in a fight" Naruto explained, "I simply lack _power_ to take down enemies. You can block a dozen or a hundred Shadow Clones with ease but you have to dodge a giant Fireball because it is more _harmful_ to enemies than merely having a hundred or thousand copies of myself pounding on a single person."

Sasuke stared at Naruto in disbelief before saying, "So what do _you_ have that may benefit me?"

Naruto only grinned thinking of all those exercises he learnt from Kakashi from the previous loops that he could use as a bargaining chip to Sasuke.

-Break-

The actual learning of both Fire Jutsus from Sasuke was surprisingly easy for Naruto. Mainly because it was all about power first and control second he noted. He learnt the hand-seals for both Jutsus from Sasuke (who did not bother to reduce the number of hand-seals from what he could tell) and went his own way as Sasuke trained himself to exhaustion.

Right now Naruto was having Shadow Clones do most of the hard work and get the control down for the Jutsu. Like any Jutsu, failing to execute it may vary from nothing happening to things that you wished didn't happen to you.

Seeing the results as his Shadow Clones were popped by being burnt from the inside out was a good enough reason for Naruto. The current result was there was a 90% chance of Naruto burning up his insides if he dared tried to use even the Grand Fireball Jutsu currently. The Phoenix Fire Jutsu was even worse where none of the Shadow Clones could manage to use that without being destroyed easily.

Naruto signalled for the remaining Shadow Clone to dispel so he gained their memories.

"Got it Boss" the Shadow Clone saluted to Naruto before disappearing causing Naruto to gain the knowledge to somewhat not harm himself while executing the Jutsu.

With another sigh Naruto made a cross hand-seal and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" causing another 10 Shadow Clones to appear replacing the previous ones.

"Right, execute the Jutsu!" Naruto barked out, "Focus on safety first. Size and power comes after we figure out a way to NOT burn up inside."

"YOSH!"

A collection of 10 voices screamed out before forming the hand-seals rapidly and shouting out at the same time, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

BOOM!

And all but three Shadow Clones this time popped due to using too much chakra as a fuel and too little to protect the insides of their body. Looking at the…remains of the ground that they stood at, Naruto could only think that his Shadow Clones were stupid…until the memories came in.

"Damn…" he sighed, "Still using too much Chakra."

He really cursed his lack of Chakra Control even now. However it may just be that he needed to be a lot more familiar with the Jutsu to use it, else there may be some other problem that he hadn't realised yet.

Meh, he would figure it out later.

Dispelling the rest of the Shadow Clones, Naruto continued on recreating more Shadow Clones to execute the Jutsu and absorb the information and knowledge that they gained with the Jutsu. It seemed that getting the right amount of Chakra to coat the inside of his stomach was harder than he thought.

If he used too little, he would get burnt.

Too much and he would create a wall of Chakra around his stomach to the point it actually contains the fuel for the Jutsu and with the increased pressure would literally explode from the inside.

'Only would I have such a problem that may explode me if I fail…' Naruto cursed continuing this exercise as many times as possible with his Shadow Clones as he, the original tried to relax using Chakra Control to make leaves dance around him slowly trying to pass the time.

Several hours later and several hundred Shadow Clones, Naruto let out a scream of frustration.

"Why can't I get this right?!" he roared to no one in particular.

To what seemed to have hundreds if not thousands of times he used the Jutsu even indirectly with Shadow Clones, he never seemed to go higher than a mere 50% chance of the Jutsu working. He even got the shape and size of the Jutsu down correctly, hell he even cut down the hand-seals required to 4, but there was still a good chance he would harm himself while using the Jutsu.

"I really must be missing something…" Naruto assured himself.

Then again, it all probably had to do with his Affinity which he didn't know yet. He should talk to Kakashi about that.

-Break-

"So you're trying to learn Fire Jutsus?" Kakashi to his own only looked mildly surprised at Naruto when he explained his problem to him. It was one thing to have one student that already knew Chunin level Jutsus but another when a second student was trying to do the same.

Though that said second student already had a Jonin Jutsu and its Kinjutsu variant already.

But then there was a clear problem that Naruto didn't seem to see, "If you had _that_ much trouble that you came to me, why didn't you follow the instructions and try to raise your Fire Nature Affinity first? Though you should've came to me either way if you were learning a new Jutsu, _especially_ an Elemental Jutsu."

Kakashi gave a disappointed look to Naruto causing the blonde to look away in shame.

"But I'm still impressed that you used Shadow Clones to scope out what you needed to improve using the Grand Fireball Jutsu" Kakashi eye-smiled at him, "I'm just glad that you used that method and didn't injured yourself."

"Haha, I knew better than to just try to use it with _my_ Chakra Control. I'm still trying to raise it up with some Techniques I learnt but haven't mastered yet" Naruto said grinning before flashing his Chakra and compressing it before letting it go.

"Hmm…" Kakashi wondered what kind of techniques that Naruto learnt to do this. As far as he knew, Naruto didn't know any more advanced Chakra Control techniques higher than Water-Walking.

Well it didn't matter right now since Naruto seemed to have it under control as long as he used his Shadow Clones to help him out and prevent himself from doing permanent damage to himself. Right now Kakashi needed to at least solve this rather minor problem Naruto had using Fire Jutsus.

"Okay what do you know about Nature Transformation and Nature Affinities?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looking at his Sensei strangely recounted the information that he had gained from the scrolls and even about how to use Fire Jutsus properly as well.

This caused Kakashi to be surprised since such information were for those at least Chunin in the village. Information that while may boaster the strength of the lower ranks would cause more trouble than it was worth.

There was a good reason why most Genin didn't know Elemental Jutsus.

Thinking quickly on what Naruto had told him, he recalled the facts.

1) Naruto was having trouble with Fire Jutsus which meant his Nature Affinity wasn't Fire

2) This meant that his Nature Affinity was one directly linked to Fire which was Water or Wind

3) Seeing that Naruto had no trouble with Earth Jutsus, this left Wind as his Nature Affinity

But then again, Kakashi needed to check if Naruto just had particularly strong Water Affinity since while it is difficult to learn the Element that your Nature Affinity was weak against, learning the Element your Nature Affinity is stronger is also more difficult than normal but not to the extent of the former.

That was the reason why he had a hell of a time learning Earth Jutsus and even Wind Jutsus though he found the former too convenient to use than anything else being the only Defensive Natured Element.

But first he needed to check Naruto's Nature Affinity to make sure.

Taking out a piece of squared paper he handed it to Naruto who looked puzzled until he explained, "This is Chakra Paper and while it cannot determine the more detailed analyse on how compatible you are with each Element, it can still determine which one is strongest."

He took out a piece and pushed his Chakra into it causing it to wrinkle from the centre.

"Right, hopefully this can tell me _why_ I suck at Fire Jutsus" Naruto grinned and then pressed a _small_ , yes small for Naruto that is, amount of Chakra into the paper causing it to split in two quite clearly.

Unfortunately Chakra Paper also _couldn't_ determine how powerful of an Affinity you had as well…unless you were _really_ weak in all areas or didn't use much Chakra into the paper.

"Wind…eh?" Naruto had this strange look but Kakashi dismissed it thinking on _how_ he was going to explain someone's Affinity strength without giving out knowledge only Jonins may have.

* * *

Wind.

That was the Element that his Nature Affinity was most dominant in and explained a lot on why he sucked at Fire Jutsus. Not that he wasn't going to at least master both the Grand Fireball and Phoenix Fire Jutsus.

Now to train himself so his apparent weakness in the Fire Affinity department doesn't slow him down. Kakashi had explained to him about while his Primary Element will always be Wind, he could easily train and master his other Elements as well.

The Shodaime Hokage, The Nidaime Hokage, The Sandaime Hokage and even Kakashi Hatake were able to master all Five Elements.

And all it took was hard work and time.

And time something he didn't need to worry about.

* * *

 **A/N:**

This is the part which I was waiting for for a **long** time for.

The part where Naruto starts to literally outstrip everyone else in due to the sheer amount of Chakra he has and the time he has to spend refining everything to be so much better.

Yep, from now on, Naruto will be able to learn new Ninjutsu (Yaaaaaay!)

But at the same time while I was researching possible Jutsus that Naruto would learn (At this stage he would at best get C-rank Jutsus), I had to put into question on his Nature Affinity and how it affected his learning.

Part of this chapter was based off the information off Naruto Wiki and it was quite descriptive already of how Nature Transformation worked and how Nature Affinity affected it.

I juts added a couple points here and there that weren't on the wiki to make it more precise to me.

I really don't want to rehash what I wrote in the chapter so I'm going to talk about something else that's not mention in the chapter yet but rather the next one as a slight preview if you may.

Basically Naruto will suck at _both_ Lightning and Fire Jutsus. The former to a high extent but also the latter in a lesser extent. The reason being? Naruto's Wind Affinity affects _both_ Fire and Lightning on the chart.

Generally a Lightning user is bad at Earth, Earth is bad at Water, Water is bad at Fire, Fire and bad at Wind and Wind is bad at Lightning in a cycle which is based off the information that your affinity is too dominant that you won't be able to use the Element that your affinity beats.

However what about the reverse?

For certain a Lightning user won't be good at Wind, Wind won't be good at Fire and so on but are they generally neutral at using those Jutsus as well?

I mean on on hand you have one affinity dominating one element since its stronger while doing nothing for the element its weak against?

That doesn't make sense to me.

And so I made it so that your affinity to the elements next to your own are worse than the other two elements. Basically a double negative connection though one is clearly weaker than the latter.

And this becomes even worse when you have Bloodline Limits thrown in as well. Take Haku with his Ice Affinity which comes from his Wind and Water Affinities. In between the two affinity is his/her Fire Affinity.

In one scenario where affinities really only affect one other affinity for some reason, Haku would literally have a _neutral_ affinity to Fire. Haku, Ice Affinity being _neutral_ to Fire. Yeah, like hell that would happen.

In my method where both sides of an affinity gets worse, Haku's _worse_ affinity would be Fire and he/she would be also bad at Lightning and Earth as well due to her Affinities connecting to them as well.

Sure, there are many theories in fics that say that the proportion of your nature affinity is different for each person so they _can_ be good at so and so element even if their natural affinity is connected to it. That may be as well true but nothing in Canon says that.

Though the theory side on things Naruto is really bad at them in Canon anyway.

But here, I'm generalising and _not_ making Naruto the exception to this. In fact, its even worse for Naruto since he has a strong Wind Affinity. Due to this, he will have trouble in controlling both Fire and Lightning Jutsus.

However there are really some exception to this rule.

Kakashi for one has a strong Lightning Affinity which means he's bad at both Earth and Wind Jutsus and more on the former. But the second most used Element he uses is Earth.

How does this work?

Well...Kakashi is one of those rare people who actually _mastered_ all Five Elements.

Therefore any negative reactions he may have with the Element originally would be negated away since he mastered the bloody element. You may suck at the Transformation Jutsu for one but you won't suck at it when you master it. The same logic is placed here.

And while Kakashi may never be as good as any element than his Lightning one, he at the same time won't suck at every other element he knows and uses.

Another thing.

For those who someone get it in their heads that Chakra Paper shows **every** Element and Affinity for some bloody reason, it **doesn't**.

It shows a person's Natural Affinity meaning the Element they are most aligned to naturally.

Any other element or affinity they master aside from their natural one will **not** show up no matter what they do to the paper. Why do you think Kakashi's paper only showed his Lightning Affinity when he mastered all Five of them?

The only exception from this is probably due to a person's bloodline that may show two at once.

The Dust Release doesn't count since that's not technically a bloodline but rather a Jutsu passed down.

Rinnegan _may_ show up with all Five Elements since that master of all elements thing.

Naruto's Six Path Mode? No idea there, maybe make the chakra paper explode into colourful pieces? No idea what happens there since he technically has every affinity as well.

Yeah, so that's my part here.

Also I'm still writing chapter 28 at this moment (Blame the fact that I usually write on my laptop. The keyboards from my laptop and my comp are **completely** different) but I can post chapter 27 soon enough when I edit it.


	28. Chapter 27 - Of Fire and Water

**Chapter 27: Of Fire and Water**

Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto

* * *

Naruto spent the rest of the week as well as a further 2 Loops meaning an extra 2 Weeks before the battle against Zabuza and Haku on the bridge training his ability to use Fire Jutsus.

In all, Naruto could say that he quite heavily exploited the use of Shadow Clones to further his training on one thing at a time at extreme speeds. He had used the Leaf Exercise for Nature Transformation in order to increase his ability to use Fire.

That is, until he found out he already spent to what was equivalent to more than a year with his Shadow Clones to just burn a leaf into ashes and he was only just there barely making some burns on the edges of the leaf.

Funnily enough his training in Chakra Compression, Chakra Cycling and Chakra Folding reached a much higher level due to this.

By trying to further his training with the former, he had used the techniques of the later causing his training to quicken in that area much faster than the former at least. He had tried condensing Fire Chakra to make it more efficient, tried to pour more Chakra into the leaf with Chakra Cycling and tried laying more Chakra as well with Chakra Folding.

And it didn't do shit to make the leaf burn faster but make it more likely for the leaf to explode.

But on the other hand, his skills on using said three skills developed further with Naruto being able to use them quicker and in his smaller quantities than before. Personally Naruto was aiming for a state where he either could use them indefinitely or use them instantly when he wanted.

Plus it helped with his focus with those techniques.

Naruto always had trouble with Chakra Control, that hadn't changed. But at the same time Naruto had trouble with his Chakra spilling all over the place when he used it. It really made it hard for him to hide whenever he used a Jutsu so he mostly didn't.

But then Naruto found that with a particular focus, this issue wasn't much of an issue compared to before.

So far it still took him a good half a second to prepare each technique compared to Sasuke who despite at most a few days' training going for a third of a second in time needed to use them.

But then again, Naruto admitted that Sasuke was a genius.

If the latter had another week, Naruto was sure that he would've mastered all three Chakra Control techniques to use in battle. Compared to that, Naruto had only around a week and few days since he started training those techniques. Once again, Naruto felt it was really sad that he was really bad at these kinds of techniques that required fine-tuned execution.

Despite everything, it was just easier to brute force everything.

But then again, Naruto could literally find his Chakra being slightly easier to control compared to before bit by bit as his half-mastery of those three Chakra Control techniques improve. He was just about to master Chakra Compression as well, got some decent experience with Chakra Cycling and was beginning to understand how Chakra Folding really worked.

Which was why he was even more frustrated that he couldn't get two relatively simple Fire Jutsus down.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" Naruto shouted this time not using Shadow Clones.

He took a deep enough breath in and spat out Fireballs that were either too large or too small to use in a fight and was way too difficult for him to control properly causing him to just shoot out a single breath of fire instead of a rapid steam of small Fireballs.

Naruto could only sigh at this.

"At least I'm burning up my lungs again" he muttered to himself. That was a real cause of concern until either his mastery over Fire Affinity grew enough or he was familiar enough with the Jutsu itself for it to not burn himself inside out.

That was the cause of the death for the last 2 Loops just before the battle.

That was also the cause of the damage to his Chakra System when he tried out Chakra Folding. Who knew that focusing too much Chakra and not enough control would _burst_ his Tenketsu which was also very very painful _especially_ since having the Kyubi in you apparently allowed you to not only _survive_ said accident but also recover and heal from the damage?

All while you feel like burning iron was stabbed at said burst Tenketsu. Not a great feeling to have and Naruto used more than enough Shadow Clones to make sure it didn't as well.

But unfortunately for Naruto, using Shadow Clones for training alone wasn't actually that effective Chakra/Time wise. Basically while Naruto got the experience from each Shadow Clone, the memories would gradually wear and disappear from his mind that were similar to each other.

Such as getting hit a hundred different ways.

Or trying to figure out how to float a leaf without it exploding.

Those kinds of things, not other type of information like mission reports or other information that he _needed_ to remember.

That way, even if he got 100 days' worth of memories using Shadow Clones, over several weeks or months, the information he gained from repetition would eventually disappear from his head without much consequences.

The only problem with this and training that it _required_ Naruto at least using said Jutsu he wanted to learn since _he_ was the base from all Shadow Clones despite all the information and memories that he had in his head.

 _That_ was the main reason why using Shadow Clone allowed one to quickly train a skill. It was not the mere memories of learning a new skill that allowed someone to perfectly use it later on nor how you could literally see how you were using it from an outside view but a combination of both along with an extra set or a hundred of memories to help his body to adjust to the Jutsu.

And that was something that Naruto was really realising now.

Standing aside and watching and waiting for his Shadow Clones to learn Water-Walking back then wasn't that quickly and he simply equated it to him having poor control. It was really more that his body didn't have the actual control to do so and having the memories of doing said control only helped so much.

Yeah, that was a thing that Naruto just discovered now.

No wonder why he wasn't making much progress with the Grand Fireball Jutsu and Phoenix Fire Jutsu despite having over a year's experience with it Shadow Clone wise.

Looking at the fact he was _now_ making some progress made him sigh.

* * *

Chakra Exhaustion sucked.

It really felt like he was having a cold, fever and flu all in one at the same time making it next to impossible to move properly and even think properly. It probably had to do with some about how one of the 8 Gates were located at his brain and ending at his heart.

Yeah, it was a pretty bad idea practising both Fire Jutsus he knew to the point he literally ran out of Chakra to use and almost died to it until Kakashi found him and dragged him back to the house and shoved food and thus energy down his throat.

But the thing that frightened him most was not that he could've died was…that he held less fear to death than before.

And such a habit would be his downfall in the future when he didn't have the Time Loops to fall back under.

The Time Loops were a wonderful thing to have but at the same time like what he was told by said 'observer', he couldn't and shouldn't get used to the fact that he has that to research, plan and execute everything he needs to win a fight over several lifetimes

Because of that, he was slowly losing one of the key skills a Ninja needed.

The ability to think and react to uncertain conditions.

 _That_ habit or trait was more than the common reason that green Genin died in battle, especially during one of the Shinobi Wars and he was damned if he was going to fall for that as well. Hell, he didn't even _like_ manipulating those he knew for any benefits he wanted.

And he _really_ did not want to see the disappointed looks on one of his precious people's face when he did something downright wrong for a future benefit.

That was the reason why he didn't steal the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing a second time aside from the location of the scroll being hidden in a different location, security being ramped up and him being the primary thief if it was stolen again.

But back to Chakra Exhaustion.

It sucked.

However Naruto was abnormal and he knew he was abnormal in many ways due to the Kyubi. His Chakra reserves despite being hit bottom the previous day and not enough food eaten, he already regain around half of his reserves in a few hours.

BANG! BANG!

Naruto heard the door of the house being kicked down by two people but that was impossible. His Seals should've trapped the entire place around them to the point that they _couldn't_ have got in. Even when practising his Fire Jutsus, he still sent some Shadow Clones to trap the place.

'Shit!' Naruto cursed before getting out of bed even if it was painful for him to do so. He didn't even have time to change from his bright orange shirt and pants that he slept in. Ironically enough, Naruto started wearing orange privately for a good while now since his current Ninja outfit was _way_ too dark for him.

He should switch at least the pants out for orange and maybe the shirt as well later on. It's not like he didn't NEED to wear orange…he just liked the colour.

Creeping down the stairs after making no noise in opening the door, Naruto heard several more loud sounds and then screams…

"Mum NO! Get away from her!" he heard Inari scream.

Crap this was bad. His legs were still feeling sluggish and his body was stiff as he considered what would happen if they died. Sure he had _seen_ death in one form or another and it would not be the first time he would see someone die (Sakura), but for him to witness a _civilian_ dying?

For some reason there was a good different between seeing a civilian dying rather than a Ninja.

Naruto quickly checked his control as Tsunami said something he didn't pay attention to. All he knew was that the Client's family was in danger and he needed to 'correct' that. Facing someone like the Demon of the Mist did that to your mentality.

Chakra moved in his hand by his will but even that felt sluggish to Naruto. But it was enough for now.

Enough to make a Shadow Clone, even if he was feeling horrible physically and it felt like he was going to vomit from even using Chakra. Even with his reserves at half full, he was still feeling most of the effects of Chakra Exhaustion.

It would probably go away soon enough but he needed to grit through this right now.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" he whispered making a cross hand-seal while trying to create a Shadow Clone as quietly as possible. There was a small pop in the air but it was covered by the screams from downstairs.

"Move around from the outside" Naruto commanded to his Shadow Clone who nodded and went out the window obviously discomforted due to his current condition. With that done, Naruto grabbed his weapon pouch and headed downstairs to see what was going on.

He didn't even have time to get his forehead protector on to make a good scene on his entrance.

Not like it mattered since _lives are on stake here!_

"Brat! You will die now!" a shout from an unknown man was clearly heard by Naruto who cursed and hurried up only to see a man with a Mizu forehead protector that was crossed out in the middle about to stab Inari with a Tanto.

Naruto noticed that the man was dressed similarly to those Demon Brothers Duo from before and immediately drew the connection that he was related to him in some way or that the Village Hidden in the Mist had standardised such gear for most of their forces.

Though he didn't have that massive claw on one arm, that face mask thing still made him look quite intimidating.

'This is bad! No time to rush in!' Naruto thought quickly while making head-seals, "Substitution Jutsu!" he called out aiming for Inari.

The funny thing about the Substitution Jutsu is that you literally 'flicker' and change places with an object a distance away from you. All logic dictates that such a thing is impossible since that would be similar to manipulating space/time.

But, Chakra works in strange ways and all Naruto felt was a pull, his vision blurring before things went back to normal in a split second.

His Chakra through the Jutsu moved himself and Inari in positions where the other were just in time for the Kunai to hit Naruto on the shoulder since he didn't even have time to block or evade the attack.

Stab~

A sharp pain went through his entire body originating from that shoulder that was hit. Naruto promptly ignored that pain trying to figure out a way out of this situation. He did not expect _another_ Ninja that he would face here on this mission.

Well Gato could really have hired another person but all things pointed out the man was cheap in paying his men.

'Well…things just got a LOT more complicated. I don't even know whether this guy would be here because of the previous checkpoint or something I did _after_ that' Naruto whined considering just how complicated this just became.

Changes in a timeline you could see was always annoying to deal with. A part of him really wanted to be ignorant of this since Naruto rather just have to deal with training to get stronger than before.

"What?! Substitution? Konoha Tree-Hugger!" the man looked confused but then angered at his presence, "Get lost brat!"

Naruto was really worried for Tsunami now considering how _easily_ the Mizu-nin could snap her neck just like that. Tsunami was trapped so vulnerable with a hand gripped on the back of her neck which made things even more difficult for him.

BANG!

"Ah!"

However Naruto didn't mind what was happening to Inari and Tsunami as much as himself being kicked out of the house at that same moment by said Mizu-nin.

Naruto in a single word tumbled and rolled over several times backwards away due to the kick because _that damn guy kicked really really hard,_ before he halted to a stop when he hit the nearest physical object which happened to be the water.

Spash~

It was a good thing that Naruto was able to quickly use Water-Walking to make sure he was at least on top of the water. Yeah, facing a possible and most likely Water User was a very bad idea in Naruto's mind. Even more so if he was _in_ the water.

However this thought distracted Naruto from realising in time that the Mizu-nin was standing on front of the water with a tied up Tsunami and Inari in ropes flashing four hand-seals which were way too fast for him to see.

"Water Style: Water Bullet Jutsu!" the Mizu-nin cried out while spitting out a _massive_ amount of water at him in the form of a stream.

Luckily enough, Naruto managed to dodge that attack with a decent roll to the side with his arm and leg dripping into the water for a bit from the sudden change in position that his Chakra Control couldn't catch up to.

'Hmm…I need to work more on my Chakra Control if this happens…' he thought before dodging yet another Water Bullet attack which was now in the form of multiple balls of water being _propelled_ at him leaving him little chance to counterattack.

Though in the mist of this, it was a good thing that the Mizu-nin didn't seem to notice his Shadow Clone and that said Shadow Clone already rescued the two hostages.

* * *

"Stop moving and die already!"

The Shadow Clone of Naruto watched as his original dodged and dodged attack after attack from this unknown Mizu-nin. The first thing this Shadow Clone thought of was _how_ this guy managed to get through the traps.

"Like hell I would do that! Why don't you stop trying to attack me!" the original screamed back.

The Shadow Clone almost face-palmed himself due to those stupid words. For the life of what is Naruto Uzumaki, they seemed to revert back to the clueless naïve _boy_ that they were before this whole Time Loop thing.

He really wanted to go in to attack the Mizu-nin from behind to give the original time to either run or attack but knowing himself, he was more likely to attack following the opening.

Due to this, he really couldn't give his position away or move.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" the Shadow Clone muttered creating a low powered Shadow Clone who wouldn't even last longer than a minute and sent it out hoping it wouldn't be spotted though at the same time it could serve as a distraction for itself.

That was why he made a Shadow Clone of his own and sent it to inspect of the traps while he hid himself from the outside using his original as a distraction to get a good hit in later on. So far it was unlikely due to the skill level of this enemy-nin.

The Shadow Clone and probably the original Naruto both realised that this enemy was no Genin but rather a Chunin level foe that specialised in what seemed to be only Water Jutsus so far. But paying no mind to that, this Shadow Clone promptly moved in and rescued both Tsunami and Inari from being hostages.

And also made a second and third Shadow Clone from itself and transformed them to the two to fool the Mizu-nin.

The original almost let out a small grin to this that would be noticed by any Chunin but masked it with excitement of facing a fairly strong enemy. At this, the Shadow Clone frowned. This Chunin really had a decent amount of Chakra.

He probably was a Ninjutsu and Trap specialise which made him quite dangerous since he could go both ways in trying to kill someone to alternate his methods.

The broken trail of traps that the second Shadow Clone only confirmed that.

Though it was a bad idea in his mind that he gained this information through the second Shadow Clone dispelling since that knowledge went back to the original causing him to be hit by what seemed to be a Water Whip.

 _That_ Jutsu could be useful later on.

But on the other hand he couldn't even see the hand-seals or the number of them being made for him to even copy it not to mention that this Chunin may shortened the length it took him to use it. If that was the case then it would be useless for Naruto to copy it.

But first…this Shadow Clone needed to make a big opening…like fire.

But then again, the Mizu-nin would probably dodge which meant he needed to trap him in place which mean using the Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish Jutsu…this would be fun.

* * *

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" Naruto heard his Shadow Clone scream before spitting out a large amount of flames towards the Mizu-nin.

While impressive in size, Naruto still had trouble in adjusting the size and intensity of the Jutsu which pretty much limited Naruto to currently spit out a large amount of flames in a direction for now. Of course by the time the Mizu-nin tried to run way and dodge, a pair of hands grabbed onto the ankles of the Mizu-nin trapping him in place.

BURN~!

Well at least what used to be the Mizu-nin considering he just turned into a Water Clone else it was a Water Clone he was facing this entire time…unlikely since Water Clones couldn't use any Jutsu…considering they usually were only a tenth as strong as the original user.

And the fact that ability seemed to only appear with Shadow Clones.

Which meant the Mizu-nin was quick. Quick enough to substitute out of the way of an attack while replacing himself with a Water Clone. Well this just became harder than before due to this one detail.

But then…where was the enemy?

"Bad luck brat" a voice was whispered behind him just as something sharp and painful went through where his lung was, just missing his heart. He couldn't even let a single sound out as blood seemed to flood out of his throat and through his mouth.

'No….' Naruto thought in despair just as his Shadow Clone popped due to his injury.

Naruto couldn't do anything but drop face down on the ground.

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to end here, even if he was stuck in a Time Loop, dying like this was still frightening. He admitted that he was a bit insane when he used Zabuza as a way to gain more experience but it was a quick death.

Here, he was bleeding to death.

It wasn't so quick and painless but rather a constant stream of hurt and fear.

Fear that awoke an ancient being that while Naruto knew was sealed inside of him, had never communicated with in any form until now.

* * *

Inside a dark giant cage in what seemed to be a sewers, the oldest of the Nine Biju or Tailed Beasts opened a single eye feeling the distress of its jailor.

Being a creature quite literally a thousand years old and was created before the Warring States era and living through it meant that it knew what this feeling was. It was fear. Fear for life but strangely enough not as much fear of death.

" **How unusual…** " the Kyubi mumbled.

Blinking once the Kyubi went about on searching through the memories of one Naruto Uzumaki. Such was one of the abilities that it could still use in this damp prison.

The Kyubi smirked reviewing the most recent memories of its jailor. The blonde brat was no host but rather a jail in its mind like his mother and the one who came before her. However it must admit that this one was a tad more interesting than the previous two jailors.

Even more so since this one was a male and so he would never again have to suffer through an Uzumaki woman's period…

However the Kyubi noticed the jail was dimming as if he was dying but at the same time there was this…sense that made the Kyubi feel as if death was not the end. How unusual indeed…it would need figure what was going on since death was usually a one way trip for most living things.

But then again, the Tailed Beasts were anything but most living things but rather fragments of a God.

Looking down at the near dead figure of Naruto Uzumaki who for the first time went into his mindscape and where the seal was located the Kyubi chuckled again, " **For such an interesting entertainment…I shall grant you a way to live…for now.** "

Red Chakra slowly went through the seal, so slowly and in such small quantities to the Kyubi but yet this was a limitation that damn blonde flee allowed him when he stole half of him and sealed the rest inside this brat.

Even so, this seal was much more preferable than the last two where this mighty being was literally unable to move or even use its Chakra while in it. Yes, while being sealed wasn't the best thing and having half of it stolen, he could work with this.

He could now slowly recover his Yin Chakra through this brat that seemed to finally have grown something called a brain to humans.

He could also influence the brat but he would have to do so carefully. The seal braking would kill the brat and when the brat dies, he would be stuck once again inside the seal only for the one way for freedom to disappear.

But then again, this Kyubi was a mighty and ancient being. What was a century or two in freedom when he had already suffered through one?

But then again now that he was awake, he would need some entertainment.

With a single red eye glazing down at the now rapidly healing jailor, the Kyubi only muttered out, " **Should you entertain me further…perhaps I would give you some 'gifts' that is fitting for one that can host something as great as myself.** "

After all, it wasn't common for one to be stuck in what is commonly known as a Time Loop or for one to be in one not of their own doing.

* * *

Naruto awoke in pain not knowing what just happened after he fainted from the pain.

His body, muscles, blood and nerves were on fire as something painful and yet energising went through him that both burnt and healed his body at the same time. He had no idea how to react to this so he did the most universal thing known to mankind when faced with an unknown.

So he screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAA **AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH**!"

And for first time in over a decade, the Chakra of the Kyubi no Yoko was unleashed onto the world.

* * *

 **A/N:**

So yeah.

Shadow Clones aren't that all powering training tool as it was seen as. I could've been really cruel and made it so that Shadow Clones didn't transfer anything to speed up training but Canon kinda ruined that.

But here, I at least made it so that Naruto couldn't do a hundred different things at once, hell ten things at once using Shadow Clones and learning from ALL of them at once.

It actually makes sense though.

Why does Naruto only use it in training **one** single thing at a time to speed it up rapidly for that one particular task?

Basically since Shadow Clones only transfer memories and there is limited amount of space in his head, Naruto will eventually start forgetting things especially when he does multiple thing at once.

Take Naruto has 10 tasks.

In scenario A, he uses Shadow Clones to master each task one by one and eventually he's all good in all of them. That's find, the real Naruto now can do all 10 tasks.

But in scenario B, he uses Shadow Clones to master each task at the same time. Even if he masters them all at the same time, due to the effects of his real original self only mastering one or if Naruto was that lazy none, the effects of the memories of him mastering every task will disappear due to his original's self memories have the priority in what is remembered.

And because Naruto has no muscle memories on the other tasks, he can't even unconsciously do said tasks.

It's not a matter of if the Shadow Clone Training is effective or not at this point but rather it actually lasts at all.

To use a Jutsu effective means being able to instinctively flick through the hand-seals required and dish out the Jutsu without even thinking about making the hand-seals because you're in a battle and need the concentration for other things.

Without the checkpoint system I used, Naruto would basically be required to relearn every single hand-seal reflex for a jutsu in order to use it properly again. Unless he can use it seal-lessly of course.

So yeah, Shadow Clones are effective but not perfect.

Also new non-Canon enemy introduced...

Now to think of a way to fit it into the story logically and not make it seem like I got it out of my ass randomly...

* * *

Another note...

Finally completed Chapter 28 at last and am editing right now...though that was mainly because of me writing a new series out of whim. Might post that series when I reach 100K words in it, that's usually when I know whether my mind can tell if its a hit or miss.

Not to mention its a Gamer Type Fic, God knows how many there are out there already and most of them being from the Naruto series.

But at the same time a Gamer Type Fic isn't something I'm unfamiliar with. Two pretty long series posted and another couple not posted and left incomplete does that to you. Well send me a message if they think me handling two series at once is a good idea.


	29. Chapter 28 - Of Fire and Ice

**Chapter 28: Of Fire and Ice**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

One Koujima Hakomi, former Chunin of the Village Hidden in the Mist and also former Hunter-nin as well to the same place watched as the young boy that he just recently killed stood up.

That was impossible.

Even if he didn't directly hit the heart, he had hit a major organ which would cause bleeding severe enough that a person, even a Ninja would die within a minute of the stab wound. Koujima while considering himself modest was a bit of a sadist.

He could've just slit the throat of the boy and be done with it in seconds but habits die hard and he took to stabbing the boy's body instead due to irritation and the fact that the boy was _faster_ than he seemed jumping around using Chakra to boost his speeds that a common Chunin would struggle a bit.

The boy's eyes turned from its bright blue to a deep red, those whiskers marks became even more distinct and he gained a more animal feel with his hair becoming more wild, fangs coming out and nails turning to fangs.

Not to mention the _amount_ of Chakra the boy was throwing around like it was nothing.

But right now, Koujima was not thinking of any of that but rather on what on earth was that killing intent and _why_ it was coming from the boy he had just killed and just stood up like it was nothing. The body itself was twitching rapidly from what he could see and he could also clearly see smoke-steam (?) from the wound while closing it.

"AAAAAAAAAA **AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!** "

And then Koujima heard that roar and the killing intent, the pressure and everything that was telling his instincts to screamandrunawaywasspillingoutoftherunboyfleeallatrunonce!

* * *

Naruto felt like he was on fire.

However most of the pain was gone and what was left was a _lot_ of energy and a lot of will to act and lash out at anything in front of him. Mainly the person that was frozen stiff on the spot that almost killed him using that Tanto to stab into him.

And that man took out several Kunais and threw them at him.

" **HAAAAAAH!** "

Naruto roared a second time, using the massive and thick Chakra to deflect the attacks before rushing in at the enemy-nin using this unknown Chakra to boost himself. His muscles tore from the stress but at the same time, he was healed instantly so there was no difference in movements. Furthermore there was this numbing sense that made pain feel like something non-existent.

He felt great in all from this experience but yet there was this urge to destroy coming from everywhere inside of him.

BAM!

With a single punch, Naruto smashed the enemy-nin from the ground and made him fly away with a distinct crack heard. Even though the enemy-nin blocked using both arms, one of them was immediately broken and the other was injured in a single blow!

"What the hell are you monster?!" the enemy-nin screamed cradling his broken arm with a limp before trying to escape.

However Naruto was already moving before the man regained himself from the attack and tried to escape. Moving quickly, Naruto repositioned himself in front of where the enemy-nin was running and then sent a flying kick to the man's head.

CRUNCH!

With a sickening crack, the man's head was turned backwards and Naruto even in his current state suspected he cleanly cracked the neck and severed the bone from the rest of the body in one go.

" **Ha….ha…** ha….ha…."

Calming down and the adrenaline from the rather short fight after his supposed death experience, Naruto's eyes and the rest of his body turned back to normal and he felt an extreme amount of exhaustion from the fight.

And then the fact that he killed someone appeared in his thoughts.

'Oh god, I killed someone. Killed someone that I didn't even know. Killedkilledkilled like it was nothing at all' Naruto started to panic at the fact that he actually _killed_ someone.

He despite the 2 years in the Time Loop hadn't _ever_ killed _anyone_. He wasn't actually sure he killed Zabuza before…that fight…fights were more of a blur to him since they overlapped so much aside from the last fight and the other ones where he failed badly. And besides that, even if he killed Zabuza in one of the previous Time Loops, the loop reset and he didn't need to deal with the fact.

Hell, watching others die before him was much easier.

Even if he sometimes got nightmares of them dying once in a while. He had other things to concentrate about and the fact that they would literally live again made it a _bit_ easier for him to deal with. He never looked at Tazuna the same when he was split vertically in half.

But right now, here was proof he killed.

Killed an enemy for the sake of the mission, the safety of his charge and the safety of his own life. He took it over trying to merely subdue him.

And he didn't even get to the fact he probably used the Kyubi's Chakra then. That was a whole another bag of things he didn't need to deal with right now, from the sheer effects it had on both his body and mind Naruto felt like something heavy was pressing on his heart after he used it.

"Hey…you alright? Is…the man…" a soft and low voice coming from Tsunami was heard by Naruto who turned to look at the woman.

Other than the fact that she was taken hostage and seemingly almost killed and her clothes reflected that fact with some dirt and blood on it, she looked perfectly fine to Naruto. Inari on the other hand was much more shaken up, especially looking at the corpse next to Naruto that the latter was staring at.

"Yeah" Naruto sighed not wanting to deal with this right now after having a small crisis of his own but he had to at least look strong to reassure them, "This place unfortunately isn't safe anymore."

Feeling his Chakra and finding it a bit easier to control compared to before, Naruto made a cross hand-seal and said, "Shadow Clone Jutsu" summoning a squad of three Shadow Clones before turning to the two civilians and ordering them, "Go somewhere safe from here on. These Shadow Clones will help you out if you get into more trouble."

And with that, without wanting to get a response, Naruto used the Body Flicker Jutsu to rush himself to the bridge where the battle was ongoing.

There was already mist there and Sasuke would be in trouble encased in Haku's Ice Style: Demonic Ice Mirrors.

* * *

Several minutes later where Naruto rushed to aid his team-mate, the bridge was long since covered in mist and there were sounds of grinding of metal rubbing each other.

Despite part of him wanting to just rush in and help out Sasuke, Naruto knew in his heart that it was much better to hold back a bit and see the whole situation so he could effectively help out. If there was any chance that he could take out Zabuza…Kakashi would be free to deal with Haku.

'I don't really like Zabuza but Haku…Haku is my friend' Naruto paused with a frown.

He doubt that Kakashi would spare Haku without a good idea and he didn't know how Haku would react if Zabuza died. Would she kill Sasuke out of spite? No, Haku was a kind person from what Naruto could tell with his brief meetings with her.

However he didn't want to cause her pain by killing her precious person.

But at the same time, said precious person was currently trying to cut down _his_ precious person. In all, Naruto was generally more selfless than most but he wasn't _that_ selfless to the point where he was willingly allow one of his precious people to die for another's happiness.

That was just stupid and Naruto went back to thinking how to deal with the current situation. Now that Tsunami and Inari were safe, he could deal with what was happening on the bridge. Like the previous loops, he had placed Traps around the bridge but they seemed to be a waste of time, space and resources. He would not place them next time if he failed this loop as well.

'Looks like Sakura and Tazuna are both safe at least on the side of both battles' Naruto while he couldn't see through the mist Zabuza created could hear and smell where everyone was, at least roughly.

Both battles seemed to go on the same as before when he was there at the start. Kakashi was fighting against Zabuza while Sasuke was facing against Haku and was currently trapped in the dome of Ice.

Naruto had no idea where the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza would go. If the battle went to Kakashi, he wouldn't interfere since there was really no point in changing something that was fine to Naruto but if it went to Zabuza instead…Naruto would tip the battle into Kakashi's favour usually with lots of Shadow Clones an explosions.

But back to Sasuke and Haku.

From what he could tell from Sasuke's screams, he was going to lose sooner or later but Naruto could somewhat tell that Haku's Jutsu whatever it was took a good deal of Chakra from her. Naruto estimated her to be around Chunin rank in all but he doubt her reserves were higher than that as well.

Plus she seemed to favour speed indirect combat where she outstripped the enemy in pure speed alone and lacked more detailed Taijutsu skills as a result.

He could work with this.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu" Naruto made the cross hand-seal and summoned a dozen Shadow Clones at once.

They would be split into teams of four. One team would go to observe the battle between Kakashi and Zabuza since he needed to know how that battle would end up even if the mist didn't allow him to know the exact details of the battle.

Another team would protect Tazuna and Sakura frankly because they're a liability and he didn't want the loop to end like that due to the former dying out randomly like his family did the previous loop when Naruto faced the bridge battle for the first time.

The third and fourth team was with him dealing with the Haku situation. Saving Sasuke was the job of one team since he didn't work the emo out of Sasuke for nothing while the other team was in charge of capturing Haku since he didn't want to kill her.

The less said about his first kill being made minutes ago the better.

"You know your jobs, get to it!" Naruto commanded of his clones. All of them save six Shadow Clones that were following him used the Body Flicker Jutsu to disappear in the eyes of a normal person.

As the creator of those Shadow Clones, Naruto could somewhat tell where they were based off the chakra they gave off and only when they used it near him.

Frowning at the strange feeling he got ever since he first used what he suspected to be the Kyubi's chakra, Naruto and his remaining Shadow Clones went towards the ice dome mirrors on one side of the bridge.

Getting closer, Naruto could clearly feel how cold Haku's Jutsu made the surrounding area to be to the point ice mirrors were constructed at the coldest spots.

'Okay, to win this battle there are two options I have. Option 1) Break or melt said Ice Mirrors lowering Haku's battle power enough to defeat her. Option 2) Defeat Haku while she's using said Ice Mirrors' Naruto thought though deciding the first option was clearly the better choice.

"One team try to get Sasuke out of the Ice Dome if you can, the other with me in melting the Ice Mirrors" Naruto whispered only loud enough that his Shadow Clones could hear.

And so four Naruto's made the hand-seals and all breathed in at the same time while mixing and storing the converted fire chakra in his stomach before breathing out at the same time mixing it with the air in his lungs while declaring, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

Unfortunately Naruto didn't have a natural affinity to fire or was trained enough in fire affinity that he could make a highly densified ball of fire that would explode on impact like an Uchiha.

However what Naruto did have was a lot of Chakra and three Shadow Clones aiding him in the same attack causing a great wave of fire to hit the outside of the Ice Mirrors.

Burn~

The attack lasted for full five seconds before all of them stopped their attacks. His other team of Shadow Clones disappeared at the same moment he used the Grand Fireball Jutsu, probably to try and get Sasuke but Naruto noticed his plan went wrong when it did.

The first clue was that his three Shadow Clones all died and gave Naruto the memories of trying to snatch Sasuke away and failing before a sharp pain hitting him and dispelling them that way.

The second clue was that said Ice Mirrors were perfectly intact even if it was slightly melted at the ends.

'Crap. Looks like all that effort on learning Fire Jutsus was a bit wasted' Naruto thought. He would need to increase the intensity of the flames without spreading it too much else Sasuke would burn to death.

He would use Chakra Folding for this but his control over Fire in general wasn't the best and losing control would kill him quite badly.

"So you've come here as well" an image of the masked Haku appeared facing him on the ice mirror, "Have you come to save your friend? Too bad he's taken down already. If not then you might've had a chance."

Hearing that monotone voice, Naruto couldn't help but to growl even if it was Haku. She was pretty much provoking him, acting like he wasn't a big deal and it was working…partly. To his left and right, his Shadow Clones were making the hand-seals for another Jutsu but the instant they started to, the image of Haku on the ice mirror flashed.

Poof! Poof! Poof!

In an instant, his Shadow Clones were dispel like that!

'What damn frightening speeds…I was right in thinking getting rid of the Ice Mirror was the best choice consider Haku who was pretty fast to begin with is even faster than before inside them' Naruto thought grimly.

"So what if I am!" Naruto shouted at Haku, "I won't abandon my comrades!"

Using an incomplete concept from that Fire Scroll he got from Sasuke before, Naruto took out several Kunai and started to imbue them with his Chakra. Normally one would imbue weapons with her elemental chakra to get a certain effect.

Fire would burn and corrode what it touches.

Wind would cut anything that got near it.

Lightning would paralyse what it touches.

Earth would harden the blade and make it heavier.

And Water would make the blade flow smoother.

Using any one of these techniques was a skill that mostly only those at least Special Jonin use and was called Chakra Streaming. Unfortunately Naruto was not able to use the full technique at all due to three reasons.

The first was that he had never practised this technique before and as such wouldn't magically use it perfectly even if it killed him. The second was that his chakra control was not fine tune enough to use it on a weapon without damaging it. And the third was that his affinity wasn't currently good enough to steam elemental chakra.

Therefore Naruto bastardised the technique on the moment to steam his own raw chakra into the Kunais which would undoubtedly damage them in one go but at the same time would be stronger than normal.

"Taaaake this!" Naruto leaned back and swung all six chakra imbued Kunai at the singe ice mirror hoping that it would at least break or at worse leave him a distraction where he could send out more Shadow Clones.

If Naruto didn't know better and literally had no other Jutsu to use, he would've just spammed hundreds of Shadow Clones at a time to charge at Haku. At that point she would've run out of weapons to throw and would be forced into a Taijutsu battle.

Else Naruto could've made the battle into one of attrition placing all hope on his extremely high stamina and endurance.

But Naruto wasn't a damn idiot or a samurai that would gladly face the enemy and endure like that! He was a Ninja and as such he would use plan after plan and then trick after trick and finally cheap shot after cheap shot if it meant him winning!

And because Naruto was making himself bait with over exaggerated movements when he attacked, Haku didn't notice the Shadow Clones that didn't get killed by Haku left their stations and moved to take her down.

Three on the left.

Three on the right.

And all of them were making hand-seals for the Grand Fireball Jutsu at the same time after making more Shadow Clones to get the most effective amount of fire with the chakra levels that each Shadow Clone had.

The Grand Fire Jutsu while a C-rank Jutsu had a pretty good to pretty bad chakra consumption depending on the amount of flames you made and the intensity of it. Right now each of the Shadow Clones to the sides were using as much chakra to convert in the hottest flames that they could make.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

And due to that, the flames instead of being a minor red was a bright orange that was moving onto a slightly yellow colour here and there in the mix.

"What?!" Haku was startled seeing her ice mirrors being attacked and not to mention the rate they were melting weren't that slow compared to before.

However Haku wasn't someone who lived most of her life was one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and was good enough to pretend to be a Hunter-nin for nothing. Since the flames were focused on a certain side of her Ice Dome, all she needed to do was either leave for the other side of the Ice Dome else focus Chakra to reinforce the areas being melted first.

Haku considered her Chakra levels first and decided it was just easier to recreate the Ice Mirrors after Naruto expended his Chakra inside her Ice Dome.

And with that, Haku disappeared from her current mirror into another using her ability to travel through the ice mirrors though Naruto didn't see that happening due to all the flames.

'I have a feeling something's wrong…' Naruto frowned even though Haku theoretically be still inside that one she was trapped in.

And Naruto was once more right since he widened his eyes seeing a perfectly unharmed Haku on the other side of the Ice Dome looking as neutral as she could with a mask on which was a lot. How on Earth Haku managed to escape, Naruto did not know but he knew that this battle would be a lot more troublesome than he thought it would be.

Her Bloodline Limit gave her a severely large advantage over him and there was Sasuke there on the ground unconscious as well. They were Ninjas and she knew he would protect his comrades no matter what.

Furthermore he couldn't support Sasuke immediately on the bridge due to the issue of the Mizu-nin from before who would capture and possibly kill either Tsunami or Inari if he did go with the rest of the team.

Kakashi was needed against Zabuza.

Sakura couldn't beat the Mizu-nin.

And Sasuke would never protect the two in exchange of a battle against Haku…probably. He could possibly spin the story that he would fight a Chunin if he guarded them so he deal with Haku without him.

That may work in all though he wasn't sure Sasuke was strong enough to beat a Chunin like the one he took down, well he could just try one Loop and…shit Senbons!

Being distracted in a battle was a horrible thing that seemed to be happening more often now and he needed to stomp down on that habit. The battle was right now and he could consider whatever later on!

Rapidly making hand-seals while dodging more attacks from Haku using Chakra Enhancement for the speed needed he cried out, "Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu!" while splitting out several small fireballs at several Ice Mirrors at once.

And then Naruto noticed something vital.

Haku wasn't recovering the Ice Mirrors as fast as she did before, he almost laughed at that. The battle was going to be one of attrition after all.

"Looks like you're slowing down" Naruto dodging every more attacks.

Haku paused for a second before saying, "If that's the case then I believe I have little use for your comrade here. I spared him out of mercy before but now he may just die if it means you won't have your victory."

Naruto paled at that.

Why did he taunt the girl with weapons that could take down a Jonin with a single hit easily and has his comrade as a hostage? Right, he was being full of himself again and just _had_ to taunt her and made her notice she was slowing down.

As Haku motioned to throw the finishing blows to Sasuke, Naruto leaped to protect him remembering he words of one mysterious stranger. Except for himself and Tazuna's family, every else was free game for the time loop.

If…Kakashi won and Sasuke died in the same loop and a checkpoint appeared…

No, he wouldn't allow that. Forcing and pumping more Chakra into his legs, Naruto burst forth to protect Sasuke the only way he could using even the high speed Body Flicker Jutsu for extra speed. He leaped into the Sebons that were for Sasuke.

"Ahhhhhh!" Naruto screamed at the pain before deciding he had another plan in mind to savage this situation as best as he could.

Right now, Shadow Clones were mostly useless chakra waste because Haku could rapidly take down a dozen or two at once before he could do anything meaningful with them. However while as painful as it was, his body could take more hits.

And if he could drag the unconscious Sasuke out…and maybe give him to Sakura and hope she doesn't molest and rape him…

Well the latter would be more humorous and sad if they would reflect on it but first he needed to get Sasuke out. With a flick of his hand, he grabbed a handful of Shuriken and threw them at the Ice Mirrors knowing they wouldn't do anything at all to Haku.

Naruto grabbed onto Sasuke and picked him up roughly with little regard to his injuries since right now he was a liability and he was wasting time if he considered anything but escaping from the ice dome.

"Let's go Teme" Naruto cursed Sasuke at that moment as when he turned around to escape from the gap in the Ice Mirror, there were Ice Mirrors blocking the way.

To be precise they were most likely the Ice Mirrors that Haku made replacing the ones that he melted down before with his Fire Jutsu using several Shadow Clones to just do that. Haku made them in the precise moments that Naruto went through the gap and into the centre of the Ice Dome and when he was distracted with saving Sasuke and before he even turned around.

All of that was less than 3 seconds in total.

Haku was playing him for a fool all this time.

'Slowing down my ass! All of it was probably a trap to lure me into the Ice Dome so she could have her way with me while slowly making me an example of modern art!' Naruto thought angrily, 'Hell she apparently can teleport between Ice Mirrors as well considering there was no way she could've gotten out of one without being burnt.'

"So this was your plan? Fake your Ice Mirrors breaking, taunting me by threatening the life of my comrade before luring me with said threat and trapping me into this Ice Dome with you" Naruto said slowly with an even gaze at Haku.

The best he could do right now was to stall.

Stall for time as much as he could! There was a small change that something unexpected could happen and he could get out of this situation without him dying or falling unconscious…either one seems to lead to him failing the Loop and restarting either way.

"That is right" Haku stated in a monotone voice.

And at the same moment, Haku's image was split between each and every Ice Mirror and Naruto knew what was going to come He gulped as he saw Haku's images all taking the same stance as him with three Sebon in between his knuckles and all of them making a throwing stance.

"As a means of pride, your flames were at least hotter than the Uchiha's even if he managed to awaken his Sharingan, even he could not dodge attacks from every direction at once."

And with those words, Naruto went into a world of pain as Sebon pierced his body and he gradually fell into unconscious…or death.

 _Checkpoint 4: Loop 5 End (Total Loops 63)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Yo, its been and while and I've been procrastinating quite a bit. Chapter 29 isn't even finished yet. Reading new novels, playing GW2 with friends and writing another fic I'm still working on does that to you.

Oh and XCOM 2 came out...going to play that.

Anyway I'm going to address something right now.

Sasuke.

The Emo-Uchiha and the fact that people are _complaining_ that I'm apparently making him too strong or something. Seriously, there can't be _that_ much hate for the guy...right?

*Looks at everything said Emo-Uchiha did in Part 2 of the series...*

Riggggggggggght, I see...yeah he literally die to me when he went all Yandere for Itachi.

Sasuke was actually one of my better liked characters in Part 1. He was a good rival to Naruto and had this 'cool' feeling to him added to the fact that he did stuff in a much cooler looking way than Naruto did.

Hey, I was like...12...I think when that opinion popped up.

So yeah, I liked Part 1 Sasuke where he was actually growing as a person even when he left for Orchimaru that fight at the Valley of the End made it awesome. Then Part 2 Sasuke appeared and - ** _Ohgodwhyaopenshirtheissogay_**!- pretty much ruined his character with his _6 year old_ self mentality.

Seriously, 6 year old post-massacre Sasuke. He literally **reverted** back age wise in mentality there with his obsession.

Then there's the part where I made Naruto call Sasuke a Genius and people bitching about it. Frankly, look at it in Naruto's perspective. Sasuke was _always_ ahead of him in the Academy.

He was always first in tests (Presuming since he's rookie of the year), always first in those throwing tests, always first in spars and _anything_ that Naruto finds to be important for a Ninja. And to Naruto, Sasuke does it all _effortlessly_.

Naruto has never seen what Itachi did and could never have compared Sasuke to him. To Naruto, Sasuke was the genius and always better. To Sasuke, Itachi was the genius and always better.

To someone who never seen a true Genius, a Prodigy like Sasuke would seem like a Genius.

Not to mention that fact that it took Itachi being near blind due to his Mangekyo Sharingan and nearly dead due to a disease to his lungs (Cancer) and also taking pills to postpone his life for Sasuke to **almost** beat Itachi...well...more like Itachi finally died due to the strain of Susanno.

Seriously imagine a perfectly healthy EMS Itachi without a disease killing him and his stamina. God of Shinobi material there.

So yeah, Naruto will eventually realise that Sasuke isn't catching up to _him_ and _that_ puts things into perspective of how things could really screw up with the plot.

Also, about Sasuke losing to Haku.

Serious Haku has freaking **_Ice Mirrors_** and can apparently throw from all range. Sharingan cannot beat that with Sasuke's abilities at the time. How does (s)he not take down Sasuke immediately in Canon?

Haku was literally playing with them the entire time and was holding back in Canon. Here...Naruto was missing and Haku had **no** reason on at least taking out Sasuke quickly without killing him before Naruto came.


	30. Chapter 29 - Plans and Plans

**Chapter 29: Plans and Plans**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

When Naruto woke up again at the start of the Loop, he considered raging at Haku.

He _had_ to die the same way as before the last time he fought the girl in the mask and at the same time he still couldn't do anything to counter that all range Sebon attack of hers. His learning of Fire Jutsus to counter her was rendered useless when he had to use _several_ Shadow Clones together to melt a few of those Ice Mirrors.

In battle, Naruto wouldn't get the time to do so over and over again until Haku was left with no more Ice Mirrors to use.

Then there was the _issue_ of Sasuke being trapped in said Ice Dome and becoming a hindrance. Despite all the credit Naruto gave him because…really the raven haired boy was always above to the point he could never match him before.

"Have I surpassed Sasuke already?" he wondered.

Sure without the use of Chakra to enhance his limbs and thus his speed and power, Sasuke was still a bit higher than him but with it, Naruto vastly outstripped him. Furthermore he was starting to learn Elemental Jutsus which he could spam unlike Sasuke.

Finally there was really no _good_ reason for Naruto to allow Sasuke to learn Chakra Compression and the likes if he wasn't going to win either way. Was he really giving Sasuke too much credit? He did mentally call the Teme as Genius in his own mind.

'I mean, that guy was always perfect and all during the Academy and he did _everything_ without effort!' he mentally complained remembering all the times where he got a perfect test mark, perfect accuracy and perfect in _everything_ because he just was.

Naruto didn't want to think Sasuke wasn't because he still wanted to be acknowledged by him as an equal since it was part of his life for so long. Plus what was the point of it all if Sasuke wasn't as good as he thought?

Then there were the other teams. Kiba, Shikimaru, Chouji, Shino, Hinata and Ino are all parts of clans and have their support as far as he knows. Naruto was more than sure that all of them were Genin level before they graduated and were most likely stronger than him in one way or another.

He wasn't sure where they were at right now but he was pretty sure that even if their Sensei were lazy and didn't teach them much, their clans would instead. Kiba had his dog related skills, Shikimaru with those shadows, Chouji and his expansion jutsus and so on were things that Naruto could never get.

If he were to face them directly in where they are clearly better in, he would frankly lose. Well maybe not Hinata since she seems to faint whenever he's near for some reason…

"Kiba is still way stronger and faster than me last time I checked and is probably still stronger when he uses that beast mimicry jutsu of his, Shikimaru is crazy smart and can capture me in his shadows no matter how I may want to out-think him, Chouji's expansion attacks can one-shot me which is something I can't counter, Shino's bugs…well I heard rumours that his clan has flesh eating ones…" Naruto shuddered.

"I can't hide from Hinata's eyes and she could possibly disable me with a poke and Ino has her mind related jutsus that can take my body over but…" he placed his hand on his stomach not sure that ' _that_ ' would affect it.

Slapping his cheeks to snap out of it, Naruto had to stop putting himself down and instead look at the more positive side of things.

None of them had his stamina, his chakra reserves or even an endless Time Loop to aid them. He was going to make sure that he could beat _all_ of them even in the areas where they are best at. No one would follow a Hokage who couldn't do that.

The only person that seemed to be ahead of everyone else seemed to be Sasuke and now Naruto was frankly stronger than him in the right situations which were increasing more and more as times passed on.

Taijutsu and Genjutsu skill wise, he might be below Sasuke right now but he could literally outlast Sasuke in a fight and bombard him with Ninjutsu after Ninjutsu if he wished using Shadow Clones especially.

There was still the issue of standing behind said Uchiha or leaving the shadow of dead-last completely to consider as well. Well he could figure it out later, depending on his 'future' plans he may need Sasuke to be stronger like before instead of Naruto just cutting off any 'training tips' all of a sudden.

"Sasuke can probably handle things without me…I hope" he said though frowned at the thought of Sasuke _depending_ on him. That would be way too creepy and sad in too many levels

Walking outside and to the opposite direction where Sasuke went - he wanted privacy - Naruto took a stick and drew four circles and labelled them 'Family Protection', 'The Bridge Battle', 'Gato' and 'Wave'.

Each of these areas were connected in some way and often overlapped each other but each had to be dealt with differently. If he failed in one task then the rest would snowball later on causing dozen more problems as a result. And Naruto especially didn't want Tazuna and the rest of Wave to deal with the problems left over by his mistakes.

"I know where my priority are at least."

First things first was the protection of Tazuna and his family. There would be too much guilt if he managed to fail in that…though apparently he couldn't fail that else the Loop stopping.

Tazuna's protection was all but ensured no matter thanks to Kakashi but then came the issue of the rest his family. They were attacked in the last Loop where Naruto was there to stop him. That was most likely the cause of one of the previous Loops to end as well.

A Mizu-nin…or was it Kiri-nin? These things were confusing to Naruto but someone of that level would never fail in tracking and killing their targets and in this case a Widow and Kid. And because of this, and out of good conscious Naruto would make sure they would be fine.

Naruto drew another smaller circle and connected a line to 'Family Protection.'

"Pretty sure Gato was the one to hire him as well" Naruto muttered remembering said enemy-nin while drawing another line to 'Gato'.

Gato was a mean mean person to try to use a person's family as a hostage else just killing them out of example, but at the same time Naruto couldn't see the petty man shelling out more money to hire actual Ninjas rather than use his thugs.

And then it hit him.

"Oh Shit, this is my fault."

The Traps, the traps that he laid around the house quite extensively was the cause. Something like that would make it practically impossible for any thugs to come in or even come near the house without someone tripping over something and being filled with holes as a result.

Ninja traps were to not be underestimated and _his_ traps even more so. Didn't help that most Ninjas didn't specialise in traps and are just as bad in spotting them.

"But would Gato have hired them without the traps being there?" wondered Naruto before writing the words 'Traps' next to the line connecting 'House Protection' and 'Enemy Ninjas.'

"I could do a Loop without traps to see the results in that but sparing Loops to test things out will just make a bad habit. Some things are best left me ignorant of" said Naruto nodding in his reasoning.

Not to mention he would never want to see the results in what would happen if he just failed to do something. If he tried to kill Gato early and fail, would he send in countless thugs to massacre everyone? If he targeted Zabuza and manage to kill him, how would Haku react to him?

Yes, there were things he just didn't want to know.

Now that was figured out for the most part though still needed a lot of work, Naruto moved onto 'Bridge Protection' since it was the next one. For the most part he wasn't worried as these kinds of things were more of a spur of the moment kind of plans.

Drawing circles for 'Zabuza' and 'Haku' and connecting them to 'Bridge Protection', Naruto wondered about the sequence of events.

"Zabuza and Haku will attack the bridge no matter what. The former will face Kakashi-sensei while the latter will face Sasuke."

If the battle between Sasuke and Haku would be first if left unchecked and Sasuke would eventually lose to Haku due to her Bloodline Limit which was Ice and being above lots of _water_. Enough said on _how_ that could end up as. The only other place worse to face Haku was in an ice storm.

Haku also said something about Sasuke awakening his own bloodline limit which was probably the Sharingan which was impressive of Sasuke since everyone powerful knew of those eyes. But he still lost so it didn't matter if he awakened those eyes.

Sharingans were just tools to use in the end and if Sasuke couldn't win, there was really no reason to take the time and effort to allow him to fight to get said eyes.

"I'll probably either use him as a distraction or take him out of the fight completely" sighed Naruto not liking either options. It wasn't just right to use a comrade as a scapegoat…repeatedly as well.

Next was the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. Naruto in no way in hell was getting near _that_ battle for one reason. Two Jonin fighting bad things which usually meant death to anyone weaker than them being caught up in the battle.

It wasn't a matter of power, speed, technique, Jutsu or even Experience but rather all of the above for reasons you could _die_ looking at the battle if you're not careful. Not to mention how Iruka once put it; the pressure itself would crush lesser men. Add in the fact that not only he but his team-mates experienced this first hand as well.

Hell, the usual stoic Sasuke was _badly_ affected by it

Naruto had all the reasons not to interfere in a battle between experienced Jonin. Which led to the other problem he had to deal with.

"However how to deal with Haku…?" Naruto asked to no one particular.

The easily way was to make sure Haku was _not_ an enemy but that was impossible since she follows Zabuza that was impossible. That would only lead to him trying to convince _Zabuza_ of all people on why he shouldn't slaughter them for a pay check.

Genin and _some_ Chunin, maybe due to Kakashi alone. But a Jonin and veteran of a war as well as someone known as _The Demon of the Mist_ who was equally as feared as _Kakashi of the Sharingan_? Hell no.

"So it's really impossible to get out of this situation without a fight…not to mention whatever Gato would do."

So that way was gone and done with. The only other solution that Naruto could think of was to get rid of Gato or turn them against him…well thinking about how Gato works, he wouldn't be surprised if Gato was really going to turn on Zabuza and Haku in the end.

Actually that probably would happen sooner or later. Naruto only doubt it would happen _now_ in this fight, though he could be wrong.

But even if he brought proof of Gato's betrayal, what was keeping Zabuza from fighting anyway. And not to mention how could Zabuza even think about believing him? Maybe through Haku but he doubt the girl would go against Zabuza.

It was the kind of submissive feeling she gave off to the man that made him think that. The kind that refused to oppose anything other ways…to anyone they consider precious that is.

In all Haku was more similar to him than he thought, both fought for their precious people in the end and didn't like killing. Though that really was all that was similar between them, but it was enough to both of them who really hadn't had many bonds before to connect.

Naruto still felt his stomach turn a bit thinking about the recent event that never happened due to the Loop. And besides, if Haku really wanted to kill him, she would've done so back at the forest when he was vulnerable.

Otherwise, it was certain that both sides would at least spare each other no matter the outcome of the fight. Due to that thought, Naruto decided he would at least be the one to beat Haku, not Kakashi, not Sasuke (who lost anyway) but him!

Haku was…an enemy and yet a friend and someone who was kind. Someone that he really didn't want dead.

'That at least is what I can do for her at least…even if Zabuza dies Haku wouldn't do something stupid like suiciding on a blade to protect that monster' Naruto thought grimly. He could really see Haku breaking down and taking her own life if Zabuza dies.

A few months ago, timeline wise he would've done the same if Iruka died as well.

But then he also had to deal with Sasuke and his pride and need to fight strong people no matter the Time, Place and Situation.

'Perhaps I could bribe Sasuke with a fight against that enemy-nin…though I highly doubt I could convince him. Maybe if I get Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke was injured? No that would be still bad, maybe if I spy on Gato and find out that he was sending someone to target Tsunami and Inari' Naruto mused.

He could possibly infiltrate Gato's hideout and while he would not be able to slaughter everyone in it without anyone knowing, he could sure obtain more information on Gato's plans and how he controlled Wave and from there how to counter his plans.

That way he could at least loosen the iron grip Gato had on the country.

Writing the words 'Infiltrate Hideout' Naruto circled it and connected it to both 'Gato' and 'Wave.'

"Next is the food problem…" Naruto muttered making more plans.

-Break-

Naruto now had a pretty decent plan if all things went right.

However this meant a lot of manipulating from his part which he was never good at and tended to avoid as best he could in order to focus on more important things. That was why he was currently training with his Shadow Clones on burning the leaf with his chakra in order to increase his affinity to fire and more importantly the intensity of his flames.

Else he could give up on that and focus on his natural wind affinity instead using Wind Jutsus to boost his Fire Jutsus instead.

He _really_ wanted to at least have a decent amount of affinity to Fire Jutsus since he live in the Land of _Fire_! Where there are tonnes of Fire type Jutsus out there to learn and use. It was just…stupid to not use the resources that he had to get stronger.

And the reason was definitely not because Fire Jutsus were way flashier than Wind Jutsus or the fact that he was already half-way there with his Fire Affinity and he didn't want to stop mid-way and start on a new one.

Since Wind Jutsus were quite rare in Konoha and apparently he was one of _three_ people in Konoha who had a Wind Affinity, it was only logical to go the route which had more resources.

But back to his plans.

For starters Naruto decided it was better to just place up the Traps around Tazuna's home than taking a risk. As a safety to anyone other than a Chunin enemy-nin that could get through it, it didn't mean it didn't also keep out the other thugs that Gato had.

"Probably for the best even if I'm wrong."

Narrowing down the amount of enemies that could harm Tsunami and Inari was good and Naruto didn't intend to let anything bad happen to them if he could. And of course his Traps were a combination of actual Traps and Fuinjutsu and dong so increased his skills in the latter bit by bit in that area.

Though Fuinjutsu was something that needed constant training and supervision so he wasn't progressing in that area particularly fast.

He was pretty close in making a proper 'Key' of his seals since condensing of sealing scripts weren't that difficult when you had the hang of it. It was just layering large amounts of seal writing into something smaller that you could willingly expand if you need.

The only issue was actually the Chakra Control needed to do so without the Seal _exploding_.

"So many Shadow Clones…dead due to that. Don't even want to think of how many fingers I would have left if I didn't have that Jutsu" said Naruto thanking he Gods he learnt the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

Second of all in his plans to NOT get Sasuke to fight Haku, he was going to use Shadow Clones to learn of Gato's plans and then use _that_ to convince Sasuke that a _skilled and trustworthy_ person could only protect the civilians.

Hopefully that could convince both Sasuke and Kakashi that his idea was a good idea. Gato couldn't have hired anyone else as strong as Zabuza in a short while and Jonins were much more expensive than Chunins.

Third in his plans was to help out Wave directly. Simply taking out thugs, supplying food and making sure those people who had given up would rise against Gato or anyone else that would dare try and take away their freedom again. While Naruto was bad at manipulating people he was good at _motivation_ speeches.

There's a difference. Really, he was good at making people do things he wants when he's _not_ trying to intentionally manipulate them. When he wants to, the opposite happens instead and everyone knows that Naruto is trying to get something.

The final part of his plan?

Simply get strong enough to defeat Haku, simple as that. He could plan and plan until his head burst from all the strain but in the end in order to complete this mission, Haku needed to be defeated, Zabuza needed to be defeated and Gato needed to be defeated. There was no way out of that since none of them would back down.

"But how the hell do I counter that Ice Style?" Naruto wondered. Even Fire Jutsus seemed ineffective compared to that Bloodline Limit and Naruto wasn't even sure that Haku was strained during the fight at all.

She perfectly baited him to the point where she had him and he couldn't even react in turn. No, Naruto shook his head. He could react but couldn't do anything in the end at all; THAT was the main problem he was having.

Taijutsu and Ninjutsu wise, Haku outclassed him in how she used them both. She used them both perfectly well enough to counter him and being the fight into her own advantage with ease. Naruto had his own Taijutsu style with Shadow Clones but its main weakness will always be against those with rapid fire, wide spread attacks that can clear out countless Shadow Clones with ease.

Palming his face Naruto muttered, "I don't want to kill her…"

The experience with that enemy Chunin was still traumatising to him and the thought of killing someone was still fresh on his mind. Doing _that_ to Haku was unthinkable especially since Haku was a friend to Naruto even if it takes a single conversation for that to happen.

But at the same time as he knew he didn't want to kill Haku…did he have a choice?

In the end, as a Ninja of Konoha he was obligated to fulfil the mission no matter what and no matter how much he didn't want to do something.

"I bet that's one of the reasons so many rookie Genin are forced to take up D-rank chores" he snorted. Development of skills otherwise, it was already good practise in learning to deal with missions that you're not pleased with.

But back to the issue he was currently having.

"If I screw up and someone dies…and the checkpoint happens…" Naruto mused with a shiver in his spine. He didn't want to deal with that. Kakashi was already quite…unstable in his habits and compounding the deaths of students with that?

The man could break down just like that, Naruto wasn't that unobservant to the point that a year worth of interactions with the man even in a Time Loop to not notice how he looked at that damn stone all the time and that he was always early and always became late due to it.

At one point Naruto was even tempted to destroy the stone to see what kind of reaction he had. But then the thoughts 'Elite Jonin', 'Enraged' and 'Unstable' made those plans scrapped, burnt and ashes sent very far away.

In all, there were some things that Naruto refused to see even if the time looped saved him.

"That means I can only polish myself up and hope that I have the ability to defeat Haku…though with the Kyubi's Chakra" he mused before a flashback of _ragehotredrageandangerbeforehewouldeverfeel_ went through him.

Nope, he was NOT going to use the Kyubi's chakra at all if he could help it. Hell he didn't even know how to use it at all and that feeling it gave him…he was beyond empowered by it and at the same time losing himself as quickly as he got more power from it.

Plus…there was so _much_ hate in using that chakra that Naruto felt that he would change for the worse if he kept on using it.

If anything, using the Kyubi's chakra was akin to a Forbidden Jutsu of almost the highest level that would permanently risk your mind the more you use it. That means he was left with using his rather fragmented Taijutsu style that mixed in with Shadow Clones, some support Earth Jutsus and some ranged Fire Jutsus.

But then there were other things he had to train as well. His use of weapons like Kunai and Shurikens could be brought up a level and the infinite amount of Chakra Control he needed as well was another thing he would need to work on. Not to mention those other techniques like Chakra Compression and so on he needed to hone.

As he found out before, Shadow Clone Training really didn't pick up unless he completely focused on a single training method and pounded every single instance of it into it to give the maximum effect. Which meant he really had a week's worth of Shadow Clone Training in one area at a time until he faced against Haku if his plans went right.

"Might as well focus on my Fire Jutsus" said Naruto, "I wanna see if I can get my flames hot enough to melt those Ice Mirrors easily! And if I can't…well I suppose I could work on Chakra Compression to see if punching those Ice Mirrors hard enough will break them."

Or perhaps he should try to avoid the battle altogether. That may be good but he decided it was best to fight since there were times where he couldn't just run away.

-Break-

Three Loops and a week later Naruto was dragging Sasuke's unconscious body away while dodging a hail of Sebon raining down both on them.

"Of course he doesn't listen! I give him bloody help in getting stronger and what does he do? Run into a fucking death trap to test himself! God! This is worse than the last three when I tried to convince him _not_ to fight Haku!" complained Naruto as he quickly made another Shadow Clone and pumped out lots of Chakra into them with surprising precision so they can take more hits.

One thing that Naruto noticed that the more 'perfect' his Shadow Clones were, the more hits that they could make but also mental backlash.

It was difficult and took Naruto two whole Loops of practise to make _one_ more durable Shadow Clone under strain of battle. Luckily enough, since he used the damn Jutsu so many times, he actually made a couple of such Shadow Clones without knowing during training for a while now.

And funnily enough, he really only got into the practise of making more durable Shadow Clones on accident when one of his Fire Jutsus went wrong and exploded in the face of said Shadow Clones and it _lived_.

'The mental backlash for that incident was particularly bad as well.'

On another note, low powered Shadow Clones disguised as Inari and Tsunami were perfect in getting rid of that Mizu-nin without worry of a large battle. You would expect for a Chunin to have enough Chakra sense to tell if a person was a civilian or a transformed ninja!

But as he got the memories of his newly dispelled Shadow Clones, he paused for a split second which was enough for another Ninja to take advantage of to attack.

"Ice Style: Ice Spear!" Haku roared as she threw the more dangerous attacks to Naruto. Man he shouldn't have groped her that one time this Loop. _It was a spur of the moment thing!_ It wasn't his fault!

'Oh the possibilities with durable Shadow Clones' Naruto sighed thinking about said event even when _Ice Spears_ were being thrown at the duo to which Sasuke was still knocked out from the more dangerous than usual fight the two had.

It was a good thing that he sent a Shadow Clone to meet up with Haku this loop else the Loop would've ended there.

In all, through the three Loops plus this one, Naruto hadn't made much progress. His Fire Affinity grew a bit better but he was in no way that far in mastering the damn element within the year. He started his Wind Affinity soon after realising that he was getting nowhere with his Fire Affinity for now even with Shadow Clones and his control over Chakra Compression was slightly better while Chakra Cycling and Chakra Folding was still considered too dangerous for him to use personally.

"Get back here!" Roared Haku once again completely different from the usual calm self she was killing the previous Shadow Clone before stumbling a bit at the same time.

Seeing a chance, Naruto dropped Sasuke and flicked through hand-seals and shouted, "Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!"

Immediately seeing the threat, Haku used the Body Flicker Jutsu to dodge the giant Fireball that was less of a flamethrower and more like a ball of intense fire before throwing some Sebon forcing Naruto to stop the Jutsu and dodge as well.

Unfortunately he _still_ had problems using the Body Flicker Jutsu without being fling all over the place.

Which made sense as Naruto leaped too far forward and landed right in front of one already furious Kunoichi with a _very_ powerful Bloodline Limit. Luckily enough he didn't manage to leap right into her chest.

That would make everything much more painful when she killed him...or at least froze him until the Loop ended.

"Ice Style: Frozen Hell Grave!"

As Ice rapidly encased him completely, Naruto could only sigh and think that he wouldn't piss Haku off next time. It was _so_ much easier for him when she was holding back on the fight. Plus, at least he knew now that one of his plans was working. He didn't need to worry for Inari and Tsunami and didn't need to bother Sasuke to _not_ go to the bridge and failing each time.

There was progress and that's what important to Naruto.

 _Checkpoint 4: Loop 9 End (Total Loops 67)_

* * *

 **A/N:**

Hello people!

It's been...a month? Two month since I last updated? Yeah, blame my writer's block for this chapter. Ironically enough, now that I'm back in Uni with lots and _lots_ of work to do, I actually finished this chapter in one go while I slowly added words over my break.

Yeah, still don't get how I managed to write _more_ when I'm stressed about other stuff than when I'm relaxed.

There isn't much of a battle scene in this battle but rather Naruto sorted though his thoughts on Wave and how to _fix_ it. If you think about it, Team 7 while taking out Gato pretty much left Wave in ruins.

People were still starving, there were probably still some thugs around and the only thing that they got was really hope for a better future.

Other than that food of thought, Naruto in this chapter has a couple other revelations about his own strengths compared to other people. Partly because he and Sasuke aren't exactly even equals when the former _teaches_ the latter.

Also, Naruto _can_ probably take any of the Rookie Nine right now and win but it'll be due to his mass Chakra Reserves and not in his other abilities. I mean Kishimoto made a pretty unique bunch as part of the cast after all.

Too bad most of them were glossed over else faced enemies too difficult. For a normal ninja, Ino would be _frightening_ considering what she can do using Mind Based Jutsu.

Shino has his Bugs. _Bugs_. Reading the Web Series Worm made me appreciate him a LOT more on the possible damage he could deal out in mass. _All_ it takes is a small highly poisonous bite and most would drop dead. If not? Bite a couple dozen more times.

Also, does no one ever think of how Chouji is a one hit kill type? He's slow, but he literally has enough power to kill most enemies in one go if he's not careful. Not much of an enemy of you're turned to paste. Also too bad that he had to face monsters who _can_ take that hit and more like Akatsuki.

So yeah, food of thought for now.

Not really wanting to write a few pages on another subject in Naruto. Hyugas and their Byakugan...how the _fuck_ are they _close-combat_ specialists?

Another thing is that I reworked my _plot_ for later on in the series. The characters I've listed that would be in the story? May not be there later on. I've got something a _lot_ more interesting for the Chunin Exam Arc.

Though I may take a break for some months at that point to dish out a dozen chapters later on.


	31. Chapter 30 - Infiltration Issues

**Chapter 30: Infiltration Issues**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of Kishimoto**

* * *

Naruto was currently on the 10th Loop for his mission in Wave. In all, he made remarkable progress in the nine weeks he had on this mission compared to the months he had before it. He now had _other_ Jutsus to use after all.

Not to mention the previous progress was merely Naruto training to get stronger and faster, which wasn't much compared to what Lee could do. From the repeated month after he graduated and was placed in Team 7, his speed had doubled.

Despite that claim being quite praiseworthy, all that really meant was that his average speed for a Genin was increased to match Sasuke's own speed which was the peak of a Genin. The less said about how ridiculously fast Lee was, the better.

He was faster than _most Chunin_ already.

But still, as typical of Naruto, he had thought the most progress he had made was in his increased Jutsu library which was actually quite good compared to other Genin. Most learnt Elemental Jutsus when they reached Chunin and Naruto already had four of them!

"Man, it would be nice if I can get Kakashi-sensei to teach me some Jutsu for _every_ element" said Naruto in a small daze thinking about it.

His Earth Jutsus were fine for support and his Fire Jutsus were fine for ranged attacks but he wondered what else he could do with the three other elements. He still needed a close range attack type Jutsu and a pure defence type Jutsu as well.

"Besides, learning even _one_ Jutsu is enough to increase my strength several fold since I have Shadow Clones."

Even without the addition of new Jutsu for him to use, Naruto was already quite dangerous if you allow him to set up. A large number of Shadow Clones was impressive but durable. A large number of Shadow Clones that can burrow underground and drag you down was dangerous.

Add in ranged Fire Attacks and you have the beginning of an army killer.

Not to mention all the other less obvious techniques that Naruto had up his bag to keep himself alive and safer than normal. If he was to compare himself from before, his Ninjutsu would be at High Genin level compared to the Genin Level he had previously.

Due to the constant practise of Jutsus, his understanding of what Ninjutsu was increased a bit. This was mainly due to Naruto learning two Earth Jutsus, two Fire Jutsus and the Body Flicker Jutsu over this current checkpoint loop.

Besides that, the only thing that Naruto could think of that he had improved in compared to before this Wave mission was his skills in Fuinjutsu and his Traps skills even if the latter only grew thanks to the former.

Of the 10 Ranks of Fuinjutsu user could gain – Beginner 1-2, Intermediate 3-4, Advance 5-6, Master 7-10 – Naruto had finally breached into the Intermediate Stage of Fuinjutsu when he finally managed to create a proper Seal Key.

Not to mention that had had polished his explosive seals and storage seals as well as adding a couple more seals in with the traps. The Basic Water Protection Seal and Basic Fire Protection Seal were particularly useful when he researched them to use.

Needless to say, the chances of his stuff getting wet and any chance of getting burnt decreased dramatically when he learnt those two seals in particular. However Naruto had slow progress in learning the more offensive based seals like the Electric Shock Seal or the Combustion Flame Seal.

He had no idea on what was going on there but even with lots of Shadow Clones working on it, half the time the seals would either explode and the other half they would just fail and do nothing. It was frustrating work and Naruto didn't know what he was doing wrong.

"At my current rate…I can probably get to the Advance stage of Fuinjutsu in around 5 years or so" he grunted not that he knew it would really take that much time. It was likely to take even longer or it may even if unlikely take less time than what he estimated.

Finding how much time and effort it would take to master this branch of teaching, part of Naruto was indeed happy for the Time Loop, if only for the fact that his 'age' when mastering it would not be in the twenties or beyond.

"I got most of the basics down…which is why I can create some of the more complicated seals but after a certain point, I'm missing something that will let me reach the next level" Naruto moaned not sure what it was.

It seemed that he didn't have an exceptional talent in Fuinjutsu like some of his clan that could instantly unravel a seal or create some that bent reality itself. But that didn't disappoint him. People had things that they were good at and things they were not.

Fuinjutsu was a highly complicated area and would take a lifetime to master and there was a serious lacking of any masters after his clan was destroyed. It had taken a good idea of time to even comprehend the most basic seals that removed dirt, gathered small amounts of water and so on.

"But now…" Naruto said with the headquarters of Gato's base in sight, "Let's see if I can _convince_ Gato not to harm Wave."

There was a vicious grin on Naruto's face as he said that.

* * *

"Two guards at the gate. Another four keeping a lookout on those two alone, another eight hidden for the windows" he muttered to himself seeing the formation of guards. He was approximately a hundred and fifty metres from Gato's base.

On a tree Naruto in the distance observed the place and frowned.

Despite how crummy Gato was, he or someone he knew had a pretty decent guard set up. To ensure that most including some moderately skilled ninjas wouldn't be able to get in his headquarters easily guards were placed in key location as bait while others observed them. Naruto had spent a good few days on studying Gato's guard rotation the best he could and found that there were 10 sets of rotation for the hundred mercenaries he had hired.

A tenth of those numbers constantly kept an eye out for intruders and invaders while another tenth was sent out to Wave to cause trouble and the rest stay in the headquarters patrolling and doing whatever Gato needed them to do.

Naruto dropped down from the trees, using no chakra at all but instead used some rope and a heavy weight to balance himself from falling to his possible death. A soft thud was heard as he landed as he cringed at his mistake.

Every small noise was a bad demerit and would only increase his chances to being caught. This would be even worse when he was in the base since he would be surrounded on all sides without a means of escape.

And inside with those mercenaries was Zabuza, Haku and other possible missing-nins that Gato had hired. Torture was an issue but Haku was unlikely to be one who enjoyed putting others in pain. He was more worried about any other Ninjas with them. He still didn't know if Gato hired more ninjas when the Demon Brothers was lost to him.

Other than the ninjas, Naruto thought he would have a decent time sneaking in. Naruto wasn't at all worried about the mercenary thugs but the ninjas? Being trained in chakra usage also resulted in the experienced and sensors being able to trace and track chakra usage.

A ninja naturally used chakra in everything they did from climbing walls to even jumping and moving a bit quicker as they willed. This instinct is ingrain to them to the point that even children who had their chakra unlocked in the Academy are able to unconsciously do this without thinking.

There were even some that were able to track the chakra system itself without the use of a Dojutsu. Such people were called sensors and were extremely rare, just as rare as those who wield Dojutsus. Part of Naruto wished he was one but he doubt he had that talent.

Creeping closer, Naruto decided that trying to get in from above or in the air was a bad idea. Too much visual on his body even in the night and there was a good chance if he was detected he would be fired at in the air. And even Naruto couldn't dodge in the air.

He needed another way in.

"If I use a Transformation Jutsu to try and sneak in, one of the ninjas would detect me, if I try to wall climb using chakra the same thing would happen. I literally have to sneak in without the use of chakra at all."

Using Jutsus was out even as a diversion since it would still notify the enemy that there was someone nearby even if they weren't sneaking in. They would boost their security for the night or week depending and that would only make things harder for Naruto.

Pinching his nose at the sheer difficulty of this task, it was no wonder why sabotage ninjas had the worse fatality rates of all ninjas. Sneaking into a place was hard enough, trying to do so and not be detected by other ninjas in an area with little chakra usage was a tall task. The difficulty would be just almost hard as trying to sneak into one of the Hidden Villages!

Plus this place was mainly devoid of any chakra usage which only made it so much easier for any ninjas even decent in chakra sensing would be able to tell that someone was using chakra! He wouldn't have this problem if he was in Konoha since pretty much every ninja there used chakra in one way or another often in moving a bit quicker.

Looking at what current equipment he had, there were only a few options he could use. One was to naturally find a second entrance. Gato is the type to have a back-up plan to escape promptly. Second was to get in with the other mercenaries in disguise.

Neither were good options he noticed. If he learnt Chakra Suppression which is a key skill for anyone who wanted to be remotely stealthy, he could've supressed his chakra to the point that he could go in using his ninja skills undetected.

"Damn, looks like I can't get rid of Gato until the time's right or he gets out of that place" he cursed before retreating.

He had little intentions of letting Gato off considering how much trouble the man caused for this mission. When Naruto guarded Tazuna's family more tightly using seals to which and ordinary thug wouldn't even get near the house, he sends an extra missing-nin after the mother and son.

"Gato will be removed…but there are too many people watching in that base and there are too many possible ninjas" he said. However he was in a Time Loop and anything he did didn't matter when it would reset after a while.

He still had a few days before the battle on the bridge. If he went in now and got detected and failed, then the battle may arrive earlier or Gato may turn his eyes to the rest of Wave and Naruto didn't want to think about a hundred thugs slaughtering the rest of Wave. No, judging by Gato's personality from his actions, he would want to make his plays without opposition and with certainty.

Wave was his profit and he wanted it to live if only under his management. That would meant that as long as he feels safe then he wouldn't make a move to keep himself safe. The day of the battle on the bridge would be when he would sneak into this place.

That time would be when he would feel the most safe when Zabuza and Haku were eliminating his enemies.

At that time, he would really see what cards Gato had to play.

* * *

Days later Naruto was kicking himself for not thinking of the simple solution. So what if he had more than enough chakra to make someone wary. So what if he couldn't use chakra at all in infiltrating the place?

"It's already near the end of the week anyway. Even if I do something and fail, I can just kill myself and restart the loop" Naruto figured. He never stopped to think what that kind of thinking would do to him.

He was too focused on what _could be_ and not the other thing that seemed unimportant for him right now.

Any Ninjas inside the base _knew_ that the only person who would dare try to get in this base was Kakashi and he was out of commission for a whole week like Zazuba for one. They wouldn't be paying attention to anyone trying to get in right now. Not to mention most of the people inside were mercenaries without proper ninja training.

It doesn't even account for the fact that Naruto had been doing stealth for pranks even before he had use of his chakra (Even if they were minor and NEVER this dangerous). He already knew the ins and out of sneaking into places well enough before he even learn his first Jutsu!

And despite Gato being a paranoid bastard with ninjas on hire, he was still in the end a civilian and with the same mindset as everyone else without Shinobi training. If you don't want _anyone_ to get in, you make a shit tonne of traps to keep _everyone_ out.

There is a good reason why Ninjas are known as the assassins of the world even more than _actual_ 'Assassins' that try to do the same. The ability to climb on walls or walk on water would with enough stealth make more defences useless as civilian guards watched the openings and left the places that people _naturally_ couldn't pass through.

A tall wall? Of course Ninjas would climb over it frequently! It's not like anyone is _actually_ watching the stupidly thick and tall wall.

A fortress in a lake? Why would they need so many guards watching _everywhere?_ It's not like _people_ can walk on water!

Which was why Naruto deadpanned and was highly suspicious when he actually snuck into the base without any traps triggering on him or even _existing_ for one even when he used _some_ chakra to climb up the walls and into windows without a sound.

Chakra had an _excellent_ sound canceller if you knew how to. Naruto didn't even need to be taught that at all and instead accidentally noticed one day and figured it would be a good way to reduce the amount of noise he made.

Of course by using chakra, other Ninjas were more likely to notice him either way but against civilians it is at least effective! Like right now as he literally crawled on the ceiling making his way into where Gato was…

Or at least he thought he was.

Hours passed without Naruto making a sound and he pretty much scouted a good portion of the base. Instead of being the traditional fortress like the ones in the Fire Capital he heard of which was a literal tower, the sections of the base was split into different buildings connected to each other.

This of course made it harder for Naruto to get from one building to another. But years of pranking did help with getting to locations in unconventional ways. After that, it was merely avoid areas near the two or more ninjas resided (like Gato would put his living quarters near them) and getting into Gato's office where all the good stuff was located at.

But when he got there.

"Why the fuck does Gato not have _any_ paperwork on hiring goons? How does he hire people like this?" he wondered.

It was truly strange to Naruto who walked in more than often to the Third Hokage working through several stacks of paperwork in the past. He _knew_ that paperwork was unavoidable when doing stuff even unofficially and if Gato didn't want paperwork then _everybody_ was pretty much-

"Oh."

It was most likely that Gato hired people to do work then hired people to kill those people of and hired other people to off them as well. If Gato did this frequently, scratch that all the time then Gato was living off the fact that those he needed to pay were killed off at _least_ half the time by another group.

It would be possible without him paying at least one group that he couldn't afford to off as well instead of straight up paying them. But then, how was Gato going to off Zabuza and Haku? Both were Ninjas and as Ninjas were, they were stronger than any old civilian no matter what training they had.

Chakra was just that powerful and there was a reason why Ninjas were still so dominant even after the Warring Clans Era where clans and Ninjas in general settled down in the Hidden Village System.

And Ninjas were downright expensive to hire in general, even the missing-nin kind for someone of Zabuza's capabilities.

And even among Ninjas, Jonin were the Elites of all Ninjas. Zabuza and Kakashi wouldn't just be taken down by any common Ninja out there. Which meant that the other missing-nin that Gato hired wouldn't be able to kill Zabuza. And if that nin came with a team, neither will they.

Naruto was confused how Gato would kill off Zabuza and Haku considering how much stronger ninjas were – even Genin – compared to normal civilians and-

"Oh."

Seeing the strategies that Gato had used in the past, it was likely that Gato would use the two and exhaust them before going into the kill. It was a risky plan since if they could escape, then revenge would be theirs. The sheer idiotic thinking that killing and scamming some mercenaries would carry over to Ninjas.

After shifting through some more papers using his Shadow Clones to speed the process up, Naruto snuck out of the base and left it there as if he wasn't there at all. What he knew really made Gato look like a bastard. And he would make sure the man would die.

* * *

"You want us to do what?!" Tazuna asked livid the moment Naruto suggested his solution that worked the last few times. Before now, he really hadn't explained things to Tazuna and the man deserved better than that.

Why did he even bother?

"I want you and your family to hide, _somewhere_ away from here for safety" said Naruto, "I can make Shadow Clones and transform them to look like you all and it removes any need to protect you on the bridge or leave someone behind to protect Tsunami-san and Inari."

"But won't the traps you placed protect them?" Sakura asked. She looked much less depressed than before considering any outburst that knocked her confidence down hadn't come from him recently in any Loops.

Shaking his head Naruto answered, "I want to make sure all of them are safe. There is a chance that Gato might hire more people to capture them or outright kill them to make _another_ statement."

The family of three flinched at that.

"You're a bit too paranoid aren't you dobe?" Sasuke smirked. Naruto saw the gleam that he was expecting the battle and was excited for it. Of course he would be the opposite in the middle of it when he realised Haku was toying with him.

An Ice Style Bloodline Limit on a bridge in a _fog_ and over _water_?!

Even Kakashi would have trouble against such odds. Naruto wasn't even sure that Zabuza who specialised in battles in such environments would have any advantage over Haku in these conditions. Some Sharingan won't help if you can't escape the attacks from everywhere.

"We're ninjas" Naruto deadpanned, "We're supposed to be paranoid especially when there's a good chance these things might happen at any time."

"Mare mare, Naruto has a point. Gato _does_ have the expense to hire more missing-nin but there's also a matter of pride with Zabuza. He wouldn't let someone else take the world he was hired to."

Huh, he didn't consider that.

"Gato has a poor history in paying those he hires. Most die to another group he hires later on" he replied.

Raising an eyebrow Kakashi asked, "How do you know that?"

Crap.

"Did you question some of Gato's thugs…no? You actually snuck into his base when _Zabuza_ was there?!" he demanded.

Naruto sweated before making up a quick lie to which he wished was true, "I made a Shadow Clone to do the sneaking! I wasn't actually _in_ the base but just near it where I could escape easily. I mean, my Shadow Clones made _more_ Shadow Clones inside and they didn't notice anything!"

Sighing out in relief Kakashi said, "Just…don't do these kinds of risky things. Such actions are usually from B-rank missions and only are given to experienced Chunin or Jonin."

"I always been good at stealth and sneaking into things" grinned Naruto in response.

Looking at the two Tazuna suddenly asked again, "So what are we going to do about my family hiding?"

* * *

On the bridge, Naruto refined his control over the couple of Jutsu that he had over the week preparing. The Time Loops were helpful in allowing him to see things from cause and effect to the most minor detail but despite this, he had looked at things with the bigger picture most of the times and ignored the small details and what would happen as a result.

Namely, rather than using the mercenary thugs to try to take out Zabuza after the battle, he instead used them as a massive distraction by attacking Wave directly. With Sasuke fighting and probably losing to Haku, it was up to him and Sakura to protect wave.

He really didn't think that this would happen.

He _really_ didn't think his infiltration actions would leave to _this_.

"Sakura! Get the civilians away from this area! I'll hold them back" he roared as he made dozens of Shadow Clones before making them charge at the mercenaries. Most died quickly due to the need to restraint the enemy but some leaped to the roof and started throwing weapons at them.

There were a total of 50 mercenaries that started killing people at random and they were quite spread out. If they grouped more closely then he could care of them easily with minimal damage. But if he threw out a couple grand fireballs, then he would be responsible for destroying Wave once and for all.

Furthermore if he used more Shadow Clones to swarm them, each Shadow Clone would have minimal chakra reserves and could only be considered fodder even in a battle of this level.

"Earth Style: Underground Projection Fish!"

Naruto immediately sunk to under the ground and moved quickly before using the Earth Style: Double Suicide Decapitation to drag a man down before snapping his neck before moving on. There was no way he was letting _any_ of these scum go.

He snapped the man's neck no caring that he killed another person and moved on to continue to drag down another dozen enemies into the ground before killing them as well. After that Naruto went back above ground to see what the situation was like and how was Sakura evacuating the people of Wave.

What he saw was quite depressing and horrifying.

"Damnit! As if I'm going to let this go!" he shouted before an explosion from the south alerted him of a battle and one that included chakra meaning enemy ninjas now.

Leaping from roof to roof, Naruto almost instantly appeared at the new battlefield when he started to hear the screams. To be precise the screams of one Sakura Haruno trying to protect some children that were half her age. She had lost an arm and leg from the last time he saw her.

Naruto blinked once in surprise resulting in Sakura being tortured for longer and letting out another scream of pain.

Quickly regretting pausing for a split second, Naruto ran through the hand-seals and fired off a Grand Firebal at the ground at large. He noticed that there were three of them including the guy he killed once before as well.

Noticing the blazing flames that were coming towards them, the enemy team split off in three direction just as Naruto went through the hand-seals for the Fire Style: Phoenix Fire Jutsu that with him pumping more and more chakra into, were twice as large as normal as easily more than a dozen medium sized fireballs rained down.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted creating another three shadow clones before dropping down to see if Sakura was all right while his shadow clones held the enemy away.

Despite his grievances with the girl, he knew what Kakashi would say and do to him if he abandoned her now. He wasn't going to become worse than trash especially since there were rules about helping your comrade right now.

Sakura's breath was shallow and the children that she was protecting skittered away from him rapidly as he came near. He frowned at that but continued and placed two fingers on Sakura's neck and confirming that she was alive.

There was so much blood everywhere.

"DAMNIT!"

However he had no skills in medical ninjutsu at all. While he had some bare basic knowledge on how to patch up minor wounds like scratches, he had no skill in even trying to save someone with large cut wounds all over her body and with weapons sticking out of her arms.

She was so pale.

And for the first time in a long time, Naruto felt worry for his pink-haired team-mate. She was not prepared. He should've tried to help her more. She was currently dying. He shouldn't have been so conceit that he was superior to her in every way that she was not needed. There was nothing he could do to help her.

When did he start to think that her life was worthless?

He felt some memories from his shadow clones eventually getting destroyed by the enemy as they tried to get even a few more civilians out of the battlefield and into safety. They failed and everyone there was killed as a result.

Three men leaped down a distance from him as he felt Sakura's last breath go through her. She was dead. This was the first time that he saw someone he knew die. Before it was so instantaneous when the Loop reset that he didn't consider what happened. He saw her in the same day that the Loop reset to.

"So the little brat is the last one?" one man asked. Naruto recognised him as the man who previously in another loop tried to kidnap Inari and Tsunami. He wondered if he found them this time especially when his team hid them.

The other two men reminded Naruto of those two brothers that were killed during the trip to Wave. The chunins called the Demon Brothers. They didn't have the large claws but still looked even more powerful than the two in some ways.

And so Naruto laughed brokenly.

"You have to be kidding me?! _One_ insignificant change and _this_ happens!"

Red Chakra seeped through his body as his hands grew to claws and his eyes went red. Last time…last time the corrosive chakra came due to his fear of death. This time it came from rage. Rage at the men in front of him. Rage against Gato who is the cause of all of this. And rage at himself for failing to stop all of this from happening.

" **I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"**

* * *

 **A/N:**

Been a while since I uploaded. All the assignments and so on at stacking up together now. No time to even write when I have something due in a few days. But still, I managed to lump together this chapter.

So...Boruto Manga. Interesting start on a possible future where the plot of the movie apparently moved in a different direction where technology apparently surpasses Ninjutsu and any use of chakra.

There's just two problems. One: This is _not_ Canon so I really don't care much about it. Second: The Art if **shit**. Seriously the guy who drew this was an assistant of Kishi that drew background and background characters. I've been fanfiction drawing series of Naruto that had the same quality as this.

Not to mention the art-style itself was so un-refined that I half expected Kishi somehow broke his hand, went on hiatus for years and came back to make Naruto the next HxH in art quality.

More than that, the art is a split between what _should_ have a super realistic style like Gantz trying to be more cartoonish like Naruto and failing badly.

So my recommendations: Don't read.

Seriously, _every_ female is suddenly flat especially Hinata for no reason, there are errors in character designs with characters looking different from anything what Kishi portrayed them in and most humorous is that Sasuke somehow went to a dimension where Harry Potter was a thing and remade his image into Snape.


End file.
